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Hero Tales of the 
American Soldier and Sailor 

AS TOLD BY 




THE HEROES 
THEMSELVES 
AND THEIR 
COMRADES 



The Unwritten History of American Chivalry 



CENTURY MANUFACTURING COMPANY 
Philadelphia, Pa. 



COPYRIGHT, 1899 
A. HOLLOW AY 



■ 



XL 



GLORY CROWNS THE BRAVE. 




MERICA, grand in her splendid isolation, no 
less than in her incomparable resources and 
militant mightiness, has felt so secure of her 
supremacy in the Western hemisphere that 
the energies, the talents, and the ambitions 
of our people have been devoted to those 
peaceful pursuits which have for their 
aim personal advancement, national pres- 
tige, and a wide dissemination of those 
principles upon which human liberty and the 
peaceful development of the world are founded. 
Our conquests have never been made by sword ; 
our growth as a nation has not been by accre- 
tions wasted from weaker powers ; our strength 
is not derived from the blood of victims, and our conscience is not harrowed 
by spectres of hate and oppression. Thus, content in our national exclusive- 
ness, and punctilious in our sense of justice and humanity, we have been 
facetiously designated, by Caesars of militarism, as a nation of shopkeepers 
and as devotees of commercialism, who, mindful only of dollars, recoil at 
any suggestion of gunpowder. We have been patient in the face of 
contumely, self-possessed under painful provocation, but never indifferent to 
the cry of distress, nor deaf to appeals of the suffering. Other nations, drunk 
with ambition, glorying in aggrandizement, cannot comprehend the great 
American Republic, and thus characteristically misjudge our purposes, and 
condemn the administration of our Government. Our war with Spain has 
served to disillusion the statesmen of Europe, to quicken their slow 
intelligence, to flood their darkened understanding, and to give them an 
appreciation of the magnitude of our capabilities as a nation and our 
patriotism as a people. It has shown them that while we love money, and 
are devoted to building up our fortunes, to increasing our benefits, and to 
enriching our minds, we are more deeply attached to our homes, and that 



1 

iv GLORY CROWNS THE BRAVE. 

our love of country is equaled only by our sympathies for those struggling 
in the grip of tyrants. 

If Americans have any one thing to regret, it is the fact that we are not 
fully appreciative of our own history, having failed to study it as the subject 
deserves. This is natural, to a people whose peace has been so seldom 
disturbed that it is hard to realize that perils have been experienced and 
great victories won. Notwithstanding we are a youthful republic, we may 
justly exult in the truth that we are, historically considered, the most 
picturesque nation of the globe, and unique not only for being the most 
powerful government ever instituted by man, but because our unexampled 
greatness has been attained in a single century, and that in our several wars 
we have never once been defeated. The more thoroughly we study the 
history of our country the better citizens we become, because the tendency 
is to intensify our patriotism by giving us a higher conception of the 
domestic blessings that we possess as sovereigns. 

How very few of us even know that since the War of the Revolution 
America has been engaged in no less than seventeen different conflicts, much 
less realize their causes and results ; and yet each one has been a distinct 
step in the work of founding and developing the nation. History is not so 
impressively taught by narration as by pictures ; the artist is more graphic 
than the writer, because the eye comprehends quicker than the intelligence, 
while the pleasure is more acute and lasting. For this all-sufficient reason 
the publishers of this volume, dedicated to acts of patriotic daring, have 
wisely determined to interest and instruct Americans in the history of our 
beloved country, by splendidly illustrating and presenting in graphic detail 
stories of the most thrilling and valorous deeds performed by the brave men 
who have carried our flag to victory on land and sea, and thus glorified the 
nation. A higher purpose cannot be conceived, since its fulfillment presents 
in the most lucid, authentic andf impressive manner the heroic incidents that 
have punctuated and exalted our history as the grandest, liberty-loving and 
freedom-insuring republic of any age. 

J. W. Buia. 




Page. 

A Memorable Speech. By President McKinley 33~36 

Mighty State Secrets of the Late War. By ex-Minister to Spain, Stewart L. Woodford . 36-38 

The Prelude to an Empire's Fall , . 38-43 

Three Episodes in History 43~44 

The ' ' Virginius ' ' Massacre. By a Survivor 45~47 

Perils of the Havana Blockade. By F. B. Chad wick, Captain of the "New York" . 47-52 

Bombardment of San Juan. By Seaman O'Neill, of the "Detroit" ........ 53~54 

The Battles about Santiago. ByJ. C Breckenridge, Inspector-General of the Army . 54-58 

Dewey's Victory in Manila Bay. By E. W. Harden 59~67 

Romance of One of Dewey's Gunners. By a Shipmate 67-69 

Assault and Capture of Manila. By Sidney May 70-72 

Our Soldiers' Song. By David Graham Adee 73 

Just before the Battle of El Caney 74~78 

Heroic Charge on San Juan. By General J. Ford Kent 78-82 

How Ham. Fish Met His Death. By a Correspondent 82-86 

Facts about the Philippine People. By Captain P. C. March 86-89 

The Historic Engagement in Manila Bay. By Admiral George Dewey ........ 89-91 

The Story of Manila's Fall. By Major-General Wesley Merritt 92-96 

Our Battles with the Filipinos 97-108 

Shall We Keep the Philippines. By Whitelaw Reid 108-110 

Shall We Keep the Philippines. By William J. Bryan 111-114 

An Audience with Aguinaldo. By J. D. Hallowell 115-116 

Narrow Escape from an Awful Fate 117 

The Battle of Las Quasimas. By Arthur T. Cosby 11 8-1 20 

The Answer , 120 

Sanguinary San Juan Hill. By Lieutenant Herbert H. True 121-122 

High Old Jinks at Santiago. By Sergeant Ousler 122-126 

Praise from the Foe , 127-128 

Most Heroic Act of the War . . 128-134 

Events following the Sinking of the " Merrimac." By Richmond P. Hobson .... 134-138 

Waiting to Rescue Hobson. By Ensign Powell 139-140 

Sinking of the " Merrimac." By Richmond P. Hobson 141-142 

Great Sea Battles Our Navy Has Won. By J. W. Buel 143-148 

The Great Naval Battle before Santiago. By John R. Spear . . . . D 148-162 

Terrific Effects of Our Big Guns. By Paul St. C. Murphy 163-165 

The Deadliest Vessel Ever Conceived. By Harry D. Hallmark. 166-170 

- .'. (v) 



vi 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 

How We Annihilated Cervera's Squadron. By Captain R. D. Evans, of the "Iowa" 171-176 

Was It Sampson, or Was It Schley ? 177 

Removal of a Jammed Shell while Under Fire. By Paul St. C. Murphy ...... I77-I79 

Destruction of Cervera's Torpedo Boats. By Lieutenant Richard Wainwright .... 179-181 

The Cliffs of Santiago. By A. B. De Mille 182 

Story of a Torpedo-boat Destroyer ... 183-184 

Success of Our Army in Cuba. By Major-General Joseph Wheeler 185-186 

Bombardment of Santiago. By a Seaman of the " New York " 186-189 

The Story of Santiago's Downfall. By Major-General William R. Shafter ..... 189-197 

General Shafter's Address to His Army 198-199 

The Santiago and Porto Rico Campaigns. By General Nelson A. Miles 199-204 

Capture of the Blockhouse on San Juan. By Theodore Roosevelt 204-207 

How Cervera's Squadron Was Beaten. By Rear-Admiral W. S. Schley 208-210 

Greatest Naval Fight of Modern Times. By Commodore John W. Philip 21 1-2 15 

A Prayer. By S. Weir Mitchell 216 

First American Newspaper in Santiago 217-219 

Brave Soldiers Who Have Confessed to a Dread of Warfare 220-221 

Story of a Red Cross Nurse. By J. Helen Bull 221-223 

Hospital Conditions at Ponce 224-225 

Yellow Fever Among Our Soldiers. By Rev. Dr. Henry C. McCook 225-228 

Bravest Deeds Performed by American Sailors. By J. W. Buel 228-234 

Strange Customs of Our West Indies Neighbors. By a Porto Rican 235-239 

A Sketch of Aguinaldo. By J. W. Buel 239-241 

The Capture of Guam. By Lieutenant Braunersreuther • . . 242-243 

Shot and Shell in the Combat with Cervera. By Rear-Admiral W. T. Sampson . . . 244-250 

Life Among the Philippines. By Dean C. Worcester, of the Philippine Commission . 251-254 

The Filipino Insurrection. By a Member of the Philippine Commission 254-262 

Stories of the Officers of Cervera's Squadron. By Captain Casper F. Goodrich, of the 

"St. Louis" 263-267 

The Struggle of Our Army Before Santiago. By James Creelman 267-274 

The Twentieth Century America ... 275-276 

He Must Die for the Flag. By an Old Comrade 276-278 

Ceremonies of the Occcupation of Havana 279-284 

Gallant Captain Leary 285-287 

Dewey, as Viewed by an English Officer. By Captain Edward Fraser 288-291 

An Interrupted Bath 291-292 

Secrets of Spain's Red Book 292-301 

Courageous Act of Ensign Ellis 302-303 

Honoring a Dead Foe, the Spanish Hero of El Caney 304-306 

Character of the Filipinos. By A. C. Buell 306-310 

Under Two Flags. By an Old Comrade 310-314 

Song of the Battleship Stokers. By Katharine Coolidge 314 

How it Feels to be Under Fire. By Jno. G. Winter, Jr 315-316 

When the Great Gray Ships Come In. By Guy W. Carryl 317 

American Patriotism in War. By Carl Schurz 318-320 

Song of the Thirteen-Inch Gun. By J. H. Bates, Jr 321-322 

Some Thrilling Dreams. By Frederick Remington , . 322-325 

A Frightful Experience. By a Former Naval Officer 326-328 

The Eagle's Song. By Richard Mansfield , 328-329 

Full Text of the Peace Treaty Between Spain and the United States ,. . 330-333 

8orac Interesting Statistics of the War f f . 334-338 



CONTENTS. vii 

Page. 

The War's Cost and its Results 338-339 

Complete Chronological History of Our War with Spain 340-347 

Dear Old "Yankee Doodle " 348-350 

Our Last Great Battle with the Indians. By J. W. Buel 350-352 

Brave Women Nurses on the Field of Battle. By Hannah P. Westfall 353~354 

An Early Martyr of the Civil War. By Wilson Conroy 355-360 

Brother and I. By Matthew H. Peters 360-362 

A Possibility. By Charles W. Burpee 362-366 

An Episode of Bull Run. By William H. Henry 367-368 

Murfreesboro — A Reverie. By J. H. Carney 369-370 

Last Victory of the Lost Cause. By Colonel William H. Stewart 370-372 

An Escape from Anderson ville. By Francis Wallace 373~375 

A Gallant Defence. By Lieutenant R. H. Jayne 375~377 

Have You Heard of Our Land ? By J. Waller Henry 378-379 

Marse Billy's Close Call. By Pauline S. Colyar 380-383 

War Sketches. By General Horatio C. King 384-390 

When You Wore the Yankee Blue. By John Talman 390-392 

The Charge of Pickett's Division. By James H Walker 392-395 

Southern Boys at West Point. By Thos. W. Hall 396-398 

Reminiscences of Stonewall Jackson. By George B. McClellan, Jr 399-4°3 

With Buchanan on the Ram "Tennessee." By D. B. Conrad, Fleet Surgeon of the 

C. S. Navy 403-415 

Furling of the Battle Flags at Appomattox. By William H. Stewart 416-419 

The Old Gray Coat, a Pathetic War Incident. By William H. Bennett 419-424 

The Deserter's Story*. By Leib Porter 424-428 

The Author of " My Maryland." By Eugene L. Didier 429-430 

After Many Years. By a Union Veteran 431-433 

General E. Kirby Smith. By Geo. P. Northrop 433-436 

A Life Sketch of Admiral George Dewey . . . • • 436-444 

The Grandeur of Our Country * * 444-446 

A Brace of Splendid War Stories. By W. W. Byam 436-452 

Nicknames of 1861-1865 453 

General Taylor's Victory at Buena Vista. By Edward S. Ellis 454-455 

For Texas Independence. Battle of the Alamo. By Senora Candelaria, the Only 

Survivor ' . 456-462 

Decatur, the Yankee Tar. By Colville Baldwin 462-470 

Ninety Men Against 2,000. By Lieutenant R. H. Jayne 471-476 

Death of General Warren. By Epes Sargeant 476-477 

Patriotic Deeds of American Women. By J. W. Buel 477-480 

The First American Revolution. By Mrs. N. S. Stowell 480-481 

The Story of Andrew Jackson. By John J. Cushman 482-488 

General Scott's Emergency Transports. By Isaac T. Smith 488-491 

Our Most Serious Battles with the Filipinos 492-500 

Capture of Malolos, the Filipino's Capital ... 500-504 



— 1 — = : 






••• I LLUSTRATIONS > 



^(5 e>V^ 




An Insurgent Messenger Conveying News of American Intercession to the Cuban Camp. 
American Assault on the Spanish Intrenchments at El Cauey, July 2. 
American Troops Carrying the Spanish Earthworks at El Caney, July 2. 
Shells from Sampson's Squadron Bursting in the Streets of Santiago. 



Landing of American Troops at Cienfuegos May 11. 
Scenes in and about Cienfuegos, 

Hobson and His Men Leaving the Sinking " Merrimac" After Her Destruction. 
The American Army Investing Santiago. 

Death of Ensign Bagley and Four of the Crew of the " Winslow " at Cardenas Bay, May 11. 
The " Brooklyn " Chasing the Spanish Cruiser " Cristobal Colon." 
Cervera's Squadron Coming Out of Santiago Harbor, July 3. 
Destruction of Cervera's Squadron by Schley's Ships, July 3. ■ 

Scene in the Boiler Room of the "Brooklyn" During the Engagement with Cervera's 
Squadron. 

Captain Evans Receiving Cervera on Board the "Iowa " After the Surrender. 

Admiral Cervera and His Principal Officers. 

Capron's Battery Taking Position on the Hill above Caney. 

Gallant Defence of Camp McCalla, June 11. 

Bombardment of San Juan, Porto Rico, by Sampson's Squadron, May 12. 

The Invasion of Porto Rico by Miles' Army, July 25. 

Battle of San Juan — Charge up the Hill. 

Capron's Battery in Action Before Santiago. 

Opening of the Battle at Las 'Guasimas. 

Surrender of General Toral to General Shafter, June 17. 

The Incident of Surrender Under the now Famous Tree. 

War Map of the World, Showing Distances — Double Page. 

The Great Naval Battle in Manila Bay, May 1. 

Dewey's Squadron Destroying Montojo's Ships and the Forts at Cavite. 
Scene in the Turret of the " Olympia" During the Battle in Manila Bay. 



Spaniards Looting Houses in Santiago Just Before the Surrender. 



(viii) 



IIXtTSTRATlONS. ix 

The 1 ' Olympia ' ' Leading the Fighting Line at tb^e Naval Battle of Manila. 
The Astor Battery Going into Action at Manila. 

A Block House Near Manila Captured by the Astor Battery, August 13. 
A 12-inch Krupp Gun Mounted by Insurgents at Cavite. 
Dock of Manila, Showing the Landing of Ammunition Cases. 
View of a Suburb of Manila. 

Emilio Aguinaldo, President of the Insurgent Philippine Republic. 

Map Showing Lines of American Troops and Positions Captured from Filipinos. 

A Cordage Factory and Nipa Hut for Drying Manila Hemp. 

A Sugar Manufactory in Manila. 

Filipino Village on the Island of Pahay. 

Attack on Caloocan by General Otis and Supporting War Ships, February 10, 1899. 
Filipino Women Bathing in the Pasig River. 
Lunette and 12-inch Krupp Gun Defending Cavite. 
Loading Commissary Stores at the Pasig River Wharf. 

Types of the Filipinos — Cockfighters, Female Water Carrier, Aboriginal Negrito, Native 

Women Shelling Corn. 
Native Washerwomen of Manila Crossing a Draw Bridge over the City Walls. 
The Poor of Manila Reduced to Subsistence on Fish, During the Siege of the City. 
Representation of Modern Battleships and Torpedo Boats in Action — Double Page. 
Loading Transport Ships at Tampa with Army Supplies. 
On the Watch for Spanish Vessels off the Cuban Coast. 
Off for the War. 

Captain Fry of the " Virginius " Taking Leave of His Companions Before Their Execution. 
Spanish Officers Riding over the Bodies of the Executed Crew of the "Virginius," November 
8, 1873. 

The Harbor of Santiago de Cuba. 

Scenes in and around Tampa Before the Start for Cuba . 
The Spanish Defence of San Juan Hill. 
Cruiser "Brooklyn" Capturing a Spanish Sailing Vessel. 
Hill near Baiquiri where Trumpeter Piatt Hoisted the American Flag. 
Seven-inch Siege Gun in Action Before Santiago. 
American Troops Landing at Baiquiri. 
Burrowe's Dynamite Gun at the Siege of Santiago. 
Unloading Mules from a Transport off the Coast of Cuba. 
Wet Passage of a Drafted Passenger. 
- The Signal Corps Stringing Telegraph Wires in Porto Rico. 
Capture of a Blockhouse near Coamo, Porto Rico, August 9. 
Spanish Soldiers Forcing Passage of a Cuban Swamp. 
Scenes in San Juan, Porto Rico. 

The Hand-to-Hand Struggle for San Juan Hill, July 2. 
Pneumatic Dynamite Guns of the "Vesuvius." 
The Signal Station at Sandy Hook, 



X 



ILLUSTRATIONS. 



The Army Preparing to Move from Tampa. 

Street Scenes in Havana. 

Welcoming Return of Our Victorious Fleet. 

President McKinley and General Miles Reviewing Troops at Camp Alger. 
The Last Man on Board Troop Ship for Manila, 
landing Horses from Transports off Siboney. 
Spanish Outposts in Cuba; Stockade of Giant Cacti. 
The American Advance Line Before Santiago. 

Spanish Soldier Making Observations from a Palm Tree on San Juan Hill. 

The Astor Battery at Practice Near Manila. 

Shipping Siege Guns at Tampa for the Invasion of Cuba. 

Transports Conveying Troops to Cuba. 

The " St. Paul " Repulsing the Spanish Torpedo Boat " Terror." 

Meeting of Generals Shafter and Toral to Arrange the Terms of Santiago's Surrender 

The Sixth Cavalry Hauling Pine Boughs to Make Shelter Tents. 

The Tenth Dragoons, Colored, at Skirmish Practice. 

Our Army at Tampa. A Company Mess at Dinner. 

Havana Harbor, Showing Forts and Anchorage of the "Maine." 

A Company of Roosevelt's Rough Riders. 

The First Flag of Truce. Member of the Red Cross Presenting His Passport. 

Departure of Transport Vessels from Tampa, June 12. 

The Rough Riders Charging Up San Juan Hill, July I. 

A Cuban Vidette. 

Loading Transport at Tampa. 

Flight of the Red Skins at the Battle of Bear Paw Mountain. 
Dash of Wilcox's Battery at Gettysburg, July 2, 1863. 
The "Albemarle " Ramming the " Southfield, " April 20, 1863. 
The Advance Guard. 

Battle of Kenesaw Mountain, June 22, 1864. 

The Recall. Pathetic Incident at the Battle of Spottsylvania, May 10, 1864. 

Sheridan's Charge at Winchester, August 12, 1864. 

Hooker's Assault at Battle of Lookout Mountain, November 24, 1863. 

Battery "H," of Ohio, in Action. 

Bombardment of Vera Cruz, March 23-29, 1847. 

Death of Lawrence in the Engagement Between the " Chesapeake" and " Shannon," June I, 
1813. 

The Battle of Chippewa, July 25, 1814. 

The First Shots for American Independence, April 19, 1775. 

Engagement Between the " Bon Homme Richard " and " Serapis," September 23, 1779. 
The Boston Massacre, March 5, 1770. 

The Battle of Saratoga, Wounding of Arnold, October 12, 1777. 
Battle of Camden and Death of General De Kalb, August 16, 1780. 

Map of the Country through which the Filipino Insurgents were Driven by the American 
Troops. 



A MEMORABLE SPEECH, 



By 




NOT since Lincoln delivered his most famous speech at Gettysburg-, 
imperishable as is his name and deeds, has any public man spoken 
so eloquently to the people as did President McKinley at a peace 
celebration in Atlanta, Georgia. December 18, 1898. His patriotic 
and sublime utterances upon that occasion will survive and thrill the hearts 
of millions in the centuries to come. He said : 

I cannot withhold from this people my profound thanks for their hearty 
reception and the good will which they have shown me everywhere and in 
every way since I have been their guest. I thank them for the opportunity 
which this occasion gives me of meeting and greeting them, and for the 
pleasure it affords me to participate with them in honoring the army and 
the navy, to whose achievements we are indebted for one of the most bril- 
liant chapters of American history. 

Other parts of the country have had their -public thanksgivings and 
jubilees in honor of the historic events of the past year, but nowhere has 
there been greater rejoicing than among the people here, the gathered repre- 
sentatives of the South. I congratulate them upon their accurate observa- 
tion of events which enabled them to fix a date which insured them the 
privilege of being the first to celebrate the signing of the treaty of peace by 
the American and Spanish Commissioners. Under hostile fire on a foreign 
soil, fighting in a common cause, the memory of old disagreements has 
faded into history. From camp and campaign there comes the magic healing 
which has closed ancient wounds and effaced their scars. 

For this result every American patriot will forever rejoice. It is no 
small indemnity for the cost of war. 

3 (33) 



34 



A .MEMORABLE SPEECH BY PRESIDENT McKINLEY. 



This government has proved itself invincible in the recent war, and out 
of it has come a nation which will remain indivisible forever more. 

No worthier contributions have been made than by the people of these 
Southern States. When at last the opportunity came they were eager to 
meet it and with promptness re f ponded to the call of the country. Intrusted 
with the able leadership of m^n uear to them, who had marched with their 
fathers under another flag, now fighting under the old 

WhOV Our "fag? 00 "" ^ a & aln > ^ haVG g loriousl y hel P ed to defend its s P ot " 

less folds and added new lustre to its shining stars. That 
flag has been planted in two hemispheres, and there it remains, the symbol 
of liberty and law, of peace and progress. 

Who will withdraw from the people over whom it floats its protecting 
folds? 

The victory we celebrate is not that of a ruler, a President, or a Con- 
gress, but of the people. An army whose valor we admire, and a navy whose 
achievements we applaud, were not assembled by draft or conscription, but 
from voluntary enlistments. The heroes came from civil as well as military 
life. Trained and untrained soldiers wrought our triumphs. 

The peace we have won is not a selfish truce of arms, but one whose 
conditions presage good to humanity. 

The domains secured under the treaty yesterday, to be acted upon by 
the Senate, came to us not as the result of a crusade of conquest, but as the 
reward of temperate, faithful and fearless response to the call of conscience, 
which could not be disregarded by a liberty-loving and Christian people. 

We have so borne ourselves in the conflict and in our intercourse with 
the powers of the world as to escape complaint or complication and give 
universal confidence of our high purpose and unselfish sacrifices for struggling 
peoples. 

The task is not fulfilled. Indeed, it is only just begun. The most 
serious work is still before us, and every energy of heart and mind must be 
bent and the impulses of partisanship subordinated to its faithful execution. 
This is the time for earnest, not faint, hearts. "New occasions teach new duties." 

To this nation and every nation there come formative periods in its life 
and history. New conditions will be met only by new methods. Meeting 
these conditions hopefully and facing them bravely and 
The Life of the wisely are to be the mightiest test of American virtue's 
Nation Saved by ca p ac fty. Without abandoning past limitations, traditions 

the Valor of its * . . . 

Defenders. and principles, but by meeting present opportunities and 
obligations, we shall show ourselves worthy of the great 
trust which civilization has imposed upon us. 



A MEMORABLE SPEECH BY PRESIDENT McKINLEY. 35 



At Bunker Hill, liberty was at stake ; at Gettysburg, the Union was the 
issue ; before Manila and Santiago, our armies fought not for gain or revenge, 
but for human rights. They contended for the freedom of the oppressed, for 
whose welfare the United States has never failed to lend a hand to establish 
and uphold, and, I believe, never will. The glories of the war cannot be 
dimmed, but the result will be incomplete and unworthy of us unless 
supplemented by civil victories, harder possibly to win, in their way no less 
indispensible. 

We will have our difficulties and our embarrassments. They follow all 
victories and accompany all great responsibilities. They are inseparable 
from every great movement or reform. But American capacity has 
triumphed over all in the past. Doubts have in the end vanished. 

Apparent dangers have been averted or avoided and our own history shows 
that progress has come so naturally and steadily on the heels of new and 
grave responsibilities that as we look back upon the acquisition of territory 
by our fathers we are filled with wonder that any doubt could have existed 
or any apprehension could have been felt of the wisdom of their action or 
their capacity to grapple with the then untried and mighty problems. 

The Republic is to-day larger, stronger and better prepared than ever 
before for wise and profitable developments in new directions. Even if the 
minds of some of our own people are still disturbed by perplexing and 
anxious doubts, in which "all of us have shared and still share, the genius of 
American civilization will, I believe, be found both original and creative, 
and capable of subserving all the great interests which shall be confided to 
our keeping. 

Forever in the right, following the best- impulses and clinging to high 
purposes, using properly and within right limits our power and opportunities, 
honorable reward must inevitably follow. The outcome 

Strong in the cannot be } n doubt 
Right, Merciful in ~ ■ i i i*' i , 

Our Sentiments. We could have avoided all the dimculties that lie 

across the pathway of the nation if a few months ago we 
had coldly ignored the piteous appeals of the starving and oppressed inhabi- 
tants of Cuba. If we had blinded ourselves to the conditions so near our 
shores and turned a deaf ear to our suffering neighbors, the issue of the 
territorial expansion in the Antilles and the East Indies would not have 
been raised. 

But could we have justified such a course ? Is there any one who would 
now declare another to have been the better course ? With less humanity 
and less courage on our part, the Spanish flag, instead of the Stars and 
Stripes, would still be floating at Cavite, at Ponce and at Santiago, and a 



36 



MIGHTY STATE SECRETS OF THE LATE WAR. 



" chance in the race of life " would be wanting to millions of human beings 
who to-day call this nation noble, and who, I trust, will live to call it blessed. 

Thus far we have done our supreme duty. 'Shall we now, when the 
victory won in war is written in the treaty of peace and the civilized world 
applauds and waits in expectation, turn timidly away from the duties 
imposed upon the country by its own great deeds ? And when the mists 
fade and we see with clearer vision, may we not go forth rejoicing in a 
strength which has been employed solely for humanity and always been 
tempered with justice and mercy, confident of our ability to meet the 
exigencies which await, because confident that our course is one of duty and 
our cause that of right? " 



MIGHTY STATE SECRETS OF THE LATE WAR* 

Conditions that Demanded Delay in Beginning Hostilities. 

By General Stewart L,. Woodford, 

{Ex-Minister to Spain.) 

NOW that peace terms have been consummated by which Spain and 
America are upon a basis of mutual understanding that permits 
resumption of friendly intercourse, it is no violation of proprieties 
in me to reveal some of the happenings at Washington and 
Madrid while I had the honor of holding the position of United States 
Minister to Spain. When appointed to that important post I carried with 
me to Madrid instructions from the President to direct my efforts to the 
accomplishing of three things : 

One was to secure justice for Cuba ; another was to see that our com- 
mercial interests in that island were no longer embarrassed, and the third 
was to demand the withdrawal from Cuba of General Weyler on or before 
October 31, 1897 — or to demand the passports of the American Minister. I 
delivered my instructions to the Duke of Tetuan, the Spanish Minister of 
Foreign Affairs, and he promptly told me that under no circumstances would 
General Weyler be withdrawn from Cuba until the end of the two years for 
which he had been sent there. 

What the Duke of Tetuan refused to do and what American diplomacy 
failed to secure was accomplished by providential means. The Conservative 



MIGHTY STATE SECRETS OF THE LATE WAR. 



37 



Government resigned, the Sagasta Ministry came into power, and on October 
29, I think it was, two days before the time set for General Weyler's recall 
by the President, Weyler was recalled. 

The weeks drifted by and February 15, 1898, came, when our battleship 
was blown up in the harbor -of Havana. Through departments other than 
the State Department I received telegraphic information -on February 18 
that there was not on American ships or in the ordnance depots in the 
United States more than two rounds of powder per gun 
and per man, and I was therefore told to exhaust the arts Our Navy Without 
of peace until April 15, the earliest date at which we Ammunition, 
could be anywhere near ready for war, and that x in any 
event, smokeless powder for both the navy and the army would be another 
impossibility. 

I did the best I could ; but let me inform you that, had it not been for the 
unfaltering, unchanging and loyal friendship of England and the attitude of 
her Minister at Madrid, I might have failed to do the little I did do, because 
the representatives at Madrid of Continental Europe were ready at any time 
to interfere with the plans of the United States, if the British Minister would 
only join them. In the meantime the work of preparation went on at home, 
and to show you how accurately the time was gauged, I may tell you of the 
run of a sealed express train across the continent, the contents of which 
train no man outside of Washington, and only two there, knew. It had the 
right of way over all other trains. When it reached San Francisco its cargo 
was transferred to the Mohican, which raced to Honolulu. There the cargo 
was shifted to the " Baltimore," which carried it to Hong Kong, and on 
April 23 the cargo was distributed among the American warships there, and 
Dewey had the ammunition he wanted. On April 24 he got his orders to 
sail for Manila. That ammunition on May Day awoke echoes in Manila 
Bay that were heard round the world and took from Spain an empire. 

The war with Spain has been likened to the hundred days in France. 
Those one hundred days changed the map of Europe for twenty years. The 
days of our war changed the map of the world and changed it forever. Loyal 
Americans may differ as to politics, but upon one thing we cannot differ. 
We tore down the sovereignty of Spain in the Philippines. 
We must either establish there a form of government as we Our Duty in the 
know government, or we must guarantee the protection of Philippines, 
life and property there until the peoples of those islands 
show that they can govern themselves. We must do one of these two things. 
It is our duty and we cannot shirk it. I agree with any one who says that 
if we govern the Philippines as we govern American cities we will not 



38 



THE PRELUDE TO AN EMPIRE'S FALL. 



succeed. If we put in power there men who have been leaders of ward 
caucuses in New York, Brooklyn, or Philadelphia, the Philippines will be 
to us a curse instead of a blessing. But, thank God, we have a man at the 
helm, your President and my President, who, instead of insisting upon a 
policy of his own, is waiting to hear from the people he governs, and in this 
country it has ever been that the voice of the people is the voice of God. 



THE PRELUDE TO AN EMPIRE'S FALL. 

By J. W. Burl. 

HE would have been endowed with more than human foresight — uni- 
versal consensus would have doubtless pronounced him a visionary 
— who, in the early spring of 1898, should have foretold not only 
that in the course of a few weeks the Union would be in the 
throes of a war to the bitter end with Spain, but that within one hundred 
days the whilom mistress of the Western World would have lost her sway 
over any portion of it forever. 

Not, indeed, that the primary causes for such a couflict were lacking, or 
that no cloud overhead bespoke the gathering storm ; on the contrary, the 
long series of Spain's misdeeds in the West Indies for centuries past had 
left behind it a blood-stained trail along which retribution could not fail to 
reach her, when the time came, with swifter, surer strides, as her punish- 
ment had been withheld the longer. 

It has been tersely said that, up the present, the history of Cuba has 
been a tragedy. The term is appropriate, and would apply as well to the 
other Spanish possessions in the West Indies and to the Philippines ; yet it 
needs qualification. We have here a tale of woe that none of the softer 
influences of the tragic drama ever came to alleviate ; a plot of well-nigh 
incredible infamy, the perpetrators of which have no other incentive than 
their rapacity, and not a thrill of virtuous impulse to mitigate their crime ; 
a picture of darkness unrelieved to the eye save by the purple gleam of the 
murderer's blade or the pallor of starving spectres, with no other silver 
lining than the treacherous glamor of pledges unfulfilled, unless it be the 
fitful flash of a heroic deed at the hands of a forlorn hope. 

It were needless, at this juncture, to retrace the drainings of Cuba's 
resources, which was started by her discoverer, Columbus himself, 400 years 



THE PRELUDE TO AN EMPIRE'S FALL. 



39 



ago. She was spoken of by her lusty conquerors under a variety of names, 

"Juana," in honor of Prince John, the son of Ferdinand and Isabella; 

" Ferdinandina," in remembrance of Ferdinand after his 

death ; " Cuba," her original Indian name ; " Santiago " Pious Rcmcm " 

and "Ave Maria," after St. J ames, the patron of Spain, Romantic Titles. 

and the Virgin Mary, respectively ; but whether under 

these, or any of those endearing epithets, " the Garden of the West," " the 

Summer Isle of Eden," etc., which the irony of fate placed upon their lips, 

Cuba lay helpless in the grasp of her oppressors until 1762, when the 

British occupation of Havana bade her hope for a new era of unknown 

welfare and prosperity. 

The vista soon faded away, however ; the treaty of Paris, the outcome 
of a coalition of Spain, France, Austria and Russia against Great Britain, 
restored Havana to Spain ; the beneficial reforms initiated by the British 
were kept up only so far as they ministered to the insatiable greed of those 
in power ; and the dawn of the nineteenth century brought no brighter 
prospect to the unfortunate island. 

It may seem remarkable to the superficial observer that our first inter- 
vention in Cuba's affairs was directed towards the maintenance of Spanish 
rule there ; in 1825 France was emphatically told that we could not consent 
to the occupation of Cuba or Porto Rico by any other European power than 
Spain under any contingency whatever; in 1840, and again in 1843, our 
intentions in this respect were conveyed to Great Britain in scarcely less 
unequivocal terms ; but it is superfluous to emphasize the fact that we were 
then merely asserting the tenets of our new Monroe Doctrine (first enunci- 
ated in the Presidential message of 1823), and not in any way upholding a 
regime which had proved so blighting a curse on every colony to which it 
had been applied. 

Years rolled by ; our own civil war engrossed for a time our entire 
attention ; and when, on its termination, we felt stronger than ever to urge 
the necessity of reform on the government of Queen Isabella, the 
dethronement of the latter in 1868 opened a new chapter in the annals of 
Cuba. 

For the first time, the legion of office-hunting Spaniards, whose occu- 
pation in Peru and other enfranchised South American 
colonies was gone, and whose traffic in blood-stained gold Spa ' n ' 8 A rr °g ancc 

. Brooks No 

was now confined to Cuba and Porto Rico — the " Penin- intervention. 

snlars," as they are called — found themselves face to face 

with a regularly organized insurrection on the part of the natives or 

u Insulars," as they were designated. 



40 THE PRELUDE TO AN EMPIRE'S FALL. 

The revolution of 1868 in Spain had no sooner been announced than 
Carlos Manuel de Cespedes, a well-known Cuban lawyer and wealthy 
planter, raised the standard of revolt and quickly found himself at the head 
of an army of 1 5,000 strong. A declaration of independence, setting forth 
the too glaring causes that justified it, was published at Manzanillo, on 
October 10 ; in the following month of April, at a congress summoned at 
Quaymaro, a Republican constitution was framed and Cespedes elected 
president. Mexico and other South American States recognized the Cubans 
as belligerents ; it was not long ere Peru went one step farther and acknowl- 
edged their independence ; what was to be known as Cuba's ten years' war 
was in full sway, and under promising auspices. 

Of the methods adopted by the military authorities to face this new 
condition of affairs, one instance will suffice ; it is contained in a proclama- 
tion issued by General de Valmaseda in April, 1869, which reads as 
follows : 

" 1. Every man, from the age of fifteen years, upwards, who is found 
away from his habitation (finca) and 'does not prove a justified motive there- 
for, will be shot. 

,n ' qUi that LaW * " 2 ' Bver > r habitation unoccupied will be burned by 

Shame Spain. the troops. 

" 3. Every habitation from which does not float a 
white flag, as a signal that its occupants desire peace, will be reduced to 
ashes. 

" Women that are not living at their own homes, or at the houses of 
their relatives, will collect in the town of Jiguani, or Bayamo, where main- 
tenance will be provided. Those who do not present themselves will be 
conducted forcibly." 

Not more than one example seems needed either, to illustrate the 
cowardly hypocrisy with which politicians played their part in this war. A 
loudly-heralded bill, the Moret bill, which was to emancipate certain 
classes of slaves, was elaborately passed and became a law amid the plaudits 
of Europe, in June, 1870. On examination it was found that this would-be 
emancipatory measure simply relieved the slave owner from supporting the 
very young and the very old, while it strengthened and prolonged his hold 
of the able-bodied, but even such as it was, the outside world thought it 
had been in operation for almost two ye^ rc Kefore the Peninsulars even 
permitted it to be publicly announced in C 

In November, 1875, President Grant I, if possible, to bring 

matters to an issue, and a note was sent anish government, of 

which this was the concluding paragraph : 



THE PRELUDE TO AN EMPIRE'S FALL. 



4i 



" In the absence of any prospect of a termination of the war, or of any 

change in the manner in which it has been conducted on either side, the 

President feels that the time is at hand when it may be 

the duty of other governments to intervene, solely with a Gencral Grant 
/« . , , , Tries to Pacify 

view of bringing to an end a disastrous and destructive the | S | an d # 
conflict and of restoring peace in the Island of Cuba. 
No government is more deeply interested in the order and peaceful adminis- 
tration of this island than is that of the United State's, and none has suffered 
as the United States from the condition which has obtained there during 
the past six or seven years. He will, therefore, feel it his duty at an early 
day to submit the subject in this light, and accompanied by an expression 
of the views above presented, for the consideration of Congress." 

Spain's answer came in a two-fold manner during the following spring. 

In a note addressed to her representatives in foreign countries, includ- 
ing the United States, Minister Calderon stated that the insurrection was 
supported and carried on largely by negroes, mulattoes, Chinese, deserters 
and adventurers ; that Spain had amply sufficient forces to put an end to 
the kind of guerrilla warfare in which they were engaged, and that her 
triumph would speedily be followed by the total abolition of slavery and the 
introduction of administrative reforms. And furthermore, in conversations 
with our representative, Caleb Cushing, Calderon reiterated the assurance 
that Spain was in full accord with the United States in regard to the aboli- 
tion of slavery, the extension of liberal political and administrative reforms 
to Cuba and the promotion of unrestricted commerce, and that she was only 
waiting for the establishment of peace to put these various measures into 
operation. 

Such protestations naturally put all attempts at intervention out of 
question for the time being. Two years passed by, and the ten )^ears' fight 
was abandoned in February, 1878. 

It was not, however, Spain's ''all-sufficient power" that had brought 
the struggle to a halt ; it was the contentions that had arisen between the 
civil and military departments of the newly formed and ill- 
matured republican government, and, above all. the lavish- War Betwccn the 
r , • . • , * • , Civil and the 

ness of the promises which Spam once more held out to Military, 
the insurgents — promises the nullity of which, when 
realized, could not but reopen hostilities at the first opportunity. 

And yet, declining to learn a lesson from her past experience, Spain 
kept on the tenor of her Punic faith, and her heartless exactions continued 
to make Cuba a fattening field for her penniless nobles and fortune-hunting 
minions, until the inevitable result came, in 1895, and a fresh insurrection 



4 2 



THE PRELUDE TO AN EMPIRE'S FAL,!,. 



broke out, more determined in its efforts and better prepared than ever for a 
conflict which was destined to be the last. 

The ten years' war had cost Spain the loss of over 80,000 out of 150,- 
000 soldiers ; that the present was to drain her resources to a greater extent 
still seemed foredoomed from its inception, while her powerlessness to 
subdue the revolt of her victimized subjects became more and more 
apparent. 

In the two years ending March 1, 1897, two Spanish generals, 13 field 
and 108 subaltern officers, 2,018 men were killed in battle or subsequently 
died of their wounds, while the number of those who had been reported as 
wounded amounted to 8,627. This was little, however, when compared to 
the losses caused by disease. Yellow fever alone had, in that lapse of time, 
carried away 318 officers and 13,000 men, while no less than 40,000 men 
and 127 officers had been the victims of other maladies. 

In other words, according to the computation of a writer in the Revue % 
Scientijique for October 16, 1897, those two years had caused the death or 
disablement of 521 per 1,000 of the Spanish forces in 

Horrors of Cuba, as follows : Killed or dead from wounds, 10.7 per 

Cuba's War for 

Independence. i>ooo ; dead of yellow^ fever, 66 per 1,000; dead of other 
diseases, 201.3 per 1,000; sent home (sick or wounded), 
143 per 1,000 ; left in Cuba (sick or wounded), 100 per 1,000. 

The unprecedented successes of the natives in this second war only 
angered the Peninsulars the more, and the progress of Cuba's enfranchise- 
ment was met by a refinement of cruelty worthy of savage life. To 
Captain-General Weyler history will give due credit for the originating of 
the so-called " concentration " system. This dastardly measure shocked the 
human race at' large ; and the nauseated world stood aghast at its callous 
execution. Weyler was succeeded by Blanco, and the latter, while hardly 
loosening his murderous grasp of the non-combatants, was so impressed 
with the progress of the fighting insurgents that he used 'every effort to 
substitute the power of bribery for the impotency of his sword. 

To Gomez, the veteran, who for thirteen years had lived but for the 
liberating of his country, he offered the use of a Spanish vessel to escape 
from the island, and a fortune in gold if he accepted the proposal ; such 
was the blind infatuation of Spain that she expected Gomez to clutch at 
her magnanimous offer ! 

But patriotism that could not be purchased, and loyalty that was as 
incorruptible as the heart of righteousness, was now soon to have its aid from 
the good angel of mercy and justice. The destruction of the " Maine " 
awakened our long patient nation from passivity and led to loosing the 



THREE EPISODES IN HISTORY. 



43 



bloody-mouthed dogs of avenging wrong. The episodes of the war that began 
in April and ended by a peace treaty signed at Paris on December 10, 1898, 
constitute an epoch of American history which true Americans will call to 
mind with exultant spirits, for aside from the results which may follow — the 
liberation of long oppressed peoples and the acquisition by the United States 
of valuable island territory which remains to be governed — the greater bene- 
fits are found in that the war served to cement anew, with indissoluble 
fraternal bonds, the North and South. 

No treaty negotiated in the present century is more pregnant of change 
in the general international situation than this second Treaty of Paris, as it 
will probably be called. It is not only that it marks the end of the colonial 
career of Spain — the final destruction of Spanish-American imperial dominion 
which was one of the wonders of the world's history, and which has its 
counterparts only in the expansion of Rome and the growth of Greater 
Britain — but it brings into the field of international politics a seventh great 
Power which, with resources of wealth, power and culture in no way inferior 
to those of the great States of Europe, enters into the competition for 
dominion over the waste and savage regions of the earth. The stored-up 
vitality of the American nation has broken its bonds, and after a century oi 
restraint the heirs of the Pilgrim Fathers have cast to the winds the pious 
renunciations of their ancestors and have given rein to that " old Adam " of 
world-dominion which is an instinct of the masterful race to which we belong- 



THREE EPISODES IN HISTORY. 

WHEN the Spanish flag came down from Havana's Morro Castle on 
New Year's Day, 1899, one chapter of history was closed. The 
Spanish Empire in America became an episode that was passed. 
In the space of four hundred and six years two months and ten 
days from the morning when Columbus landed on San Salvador until 
Castellanos turned over his authority to General Brooke in the Palace of 
Havana, the rule of Spain had been a huge fact in the life of America. 

After the treaty of Paris in 1783, by which England surrendered East 
Florida to the Spaniards, to whom France had ceded Louisiana twenty years 
before, the Spanish dominions entirely surrounded the Gulf of Mexico, and 
stretched in one unbroken mass from Cape Horn to the Hudson Bay country. 
It was then that the Spanish episode in the New World reached its climax. 
Eighteen years later the retrocession of Louisiana marked the beginning of 



44 



THREE EPISODES IN HISTORY. 



the decline of Spain's American Empire. After that one province after 
another fell away until now not a Spanish flag is to be found flying anywhere 
in the vast region through which, a hundred years ago, the traveler might 
have journeyed for eight thousand miles without finding anything else. 

This passing vision of empire recalls two other parallel episodes, both 
more extended in time than the sway of Spain in America, but each, like it, 
evanescent. One was in Spain itself, where the Moors 

Spain s Glory m ma j n t a j ne( j a Moslem dominion for seven hundred and 
Eclipse. 

eighty-one years. Throughout the Middle Ages Spain was 
regarded essentially as a part of Africa. Malaga had been a Moslem city 
for six hundred years when Smyrna, Trebizonde and Constantinople were 
still Christian strongholds. But as the centuries rolled on the crescent slowly 
retreated until the last inch of the Moorish empire in Spain disappeared 
in the very year that saw the beginning of the Spanish empire in 
America. 

The last of the three historical episodes is not yet ended, but its close is 
plainly in sight. A few years ago a great black blot called " Turkey " over- 
spread the eastern and southern lands of the Mediterranean. It covered the 
greater part of the empire of Justinian, and some regions to which the arms 
of Belisarius and Narses had never reached. Under that thick pall of 
barbarism all the marks of the ancient civilization were effaced. There was 
no longer a Greece, a Macedonia, a Thrace — there was only " Turkey." 

But now this incident, too, is passing away. It has become evident 
that there is no such thing as " Turkey " — there are only Turks, encamped 
in greater or les c numbers in lands in most of which they still remain 
strangers. One by one the ancient names are emerging, and as one familiar 
region after another comes back into the sunlight the world realizes that the 
old civilization was not killed, but merely covered up. Egypt, Cyprus, 
Tripoli and Tunis are again under Christian rule, as in the days before the 
weary arms of Hercules drooped before the onset of youthful Islam. There 
is again a Greece, with Athens for its capital. The Romans of Dacia have 
a king of their own ; two fragments of the old Servian Czardom have become 
independent States : Bulgaria rules herself ; the sentiment of nationality is 
seething in Macedonia and Thrace ; Colchis, of the Golden Fleece, is part of 
a Christian empire, and in these last weeks Crete has been redeemed. 

The three episodes have been tremendous, tragic facts to the people 
involved in them — they have seemed for the time to blot out the heavens — 
but the development of history goes on, and in the perspective of future 
centuries there will be little to show that a Moorish empire in Spain, a 
Spanish one in America or a Turkish one in the East ever existed. 



THE "VIRGINIUS" MASSACRE. 



45 



THE " VIRGINIUS " MASSACRE. 



Story of an Atrocity that Embittered America Against Spain and 

Called for Vengeance* 
By J. W. Buel. 

TO those only who have failed to keep informed of passing events in 
Cuba and who are ignorant of the history of the long suffering 
people of that most unhappy island, can any question arise as to 
the justice of United States intervention in the affairs between 
Cuba and Spain. Humanity's call was a loud one, which as a civilized 
nation we could not afford to ignore, but there were other provocations 
than those which begat our sympathy. The devastation of cultivated 
fields, the oppression of Spain's colonists by confiscatory taxes to enrich her 
besotted aristocracy ; the merciless execution of protestants of her infamous 
measures ; the winnowing and harrowing of the agricultural classes, and 
the merciless exactions that reduced Cubans to a tribute-paying people, were 
the causes that led to frequent rebellions and which aroused our strongest 
compassion. The material trade interests of our country were also seriously 
impaired by the appalling efforts made by Spain to uproot the plant and 
destroy the seeds of what was holy insurrection, for it caused an almost 
total suspension of commercial intercourse between Cuba and the United 
States, and a consequent loss to our people of more than $200,000,000 in 
the years 1896-97. Great as were the losses to our trade, and shocking as 
were the crimes perpetrated by Spain upon the Cubans; which had small 
intermission from the time of the Columbian discovery to the date of 
enforced liberation, affording abundant and all-sufficient reason for armed 
intercession by our government, these did not constitute all of the iniquities 
which inflamed our national spirit ; there were, in fact, 
many others which but for diplomatic restraint would Spain and 
have involved our government in war with Spain long *™J^\fWar* 
before the blowing-up of the " Maine " and the fast-follow- 
ing events that exhausted our endurance to bear insult, and the persecution 
of our sorrow-burdened and liberty-seeking neighbor. 

The United States was several times upon the point of taking up arms 
against Spain to avenge wrongs perpetrated upon our citizens, but at no 
time, prior to actual hostilities, did war so seriously threaten as in 1873, 
when the drum-beats were actually heard summoning the government to 
preparation and the voice of America's sons rose loudly in a demand for 



4 6 



THE "VIRGINIUS" MASSACRE. 



reparation. The incident which came so near precipitating a great conflict 
was the seizure of the "Virginius" and execution of her crew, at Santiago 
de Cuba, in November of that year. The circumstances connected with 
this Spanish outrage may thus briefly be related : 

The "Virginius " was a wooden vessel of 1,500 tons, which for a while 
was a blockade-runner, carrying arms and supplies to the Cuban insurgents, 
but later she was sold and engaged in a legitimate coasting trade, chiefly in 
the Caribbean Sea. She was American register, carried the United States 
flag, and was commanded by Joseph Fry, of Louisiana. At the time of her 
seizure she carried a crew of thirty men, and had 130 passengers, nearly all 
of the latter having gone on board at Kingston, Jamaica, for New York, to 
which port the " Virginius " was bound. The vessel was for a long while 
under suspicion and after her departure from Kingston she was pursued and 
seized on the high sea by the Spanish man-of-war " Torpedo," and upon 
being taken into Santiago the captain and crew were brought before a sum- 
mary court-martial on a charge of piracy. No defence was permitted and 

a sentence to death was passed upon the arrested men two 
C °dE Mar ^. ?al days a ft er their apprehension. Execution was ordered 
of Captain Fry. forthwith, before word could be conveyed to the United 

States authorities by the American Consul at that point. 
Accordingly, on November 7 Captain Fry and his crew were shot by a 
squad detailed for the purpose, after which the bodies were subjected to the 
most horrible indignities, Spanish officers riding over the dead, and the 
remains were also multilated in other ways. In celebration of this savage 
crime the Spanish officers gave a great ball in Santiago, attended by the 
aristocracy of the city, which was a carnival of exultation only one degree 
below that of a cannibal feast. On the following day — November 8 — six- 
teen of the passengers were shot, but further executions were prevented by 
the arrival of the British warship u Niobe " in Santiago harbor, the com- 
mander of which threatened to bombard the city in case another one of the 
unfortunates were shot before the matter could be referred to the home 
authorities. 

When the slaughter of the " Virginius' " crew and several of her '"pas- 
sengers was reported, and all its horribly brutal details became known in 
the United States, the country was aroused to a pitch of 
The Nation frenzied excitement and more than 100,000 volunteers 
Revenge. offered their services to the government to punish Spain. 

For a while it appeared that war was inevitable, that 
nothing but blood could atone the savage outrage, but this result was 
averted by Spain disavowing the acts of the officers at Santiago and by a 



DIFFICULTIES AND PERILS OF THE HAVANA BLOCKADE. 47 



promise to investigate and make due reparation. As an earnest of the pur- 
pose to make amends the Spanish authorities ordered the release of the 
surviving passengers, but no apology or indemnity was paid until several 
months later. The affair thus became a*long and tedious process of diplo- 
matic negotiation which finally resulted in Spain making a conditional 
apology and in paying an indemnity of the small sum of $80,000. The 
" Virginius " was also surrendered, but while on the voyage north she 
encountered a storm off Hatteras and was wrecked, many persons declaring, 
however, that she had been made unseaworthy by the Spaniards with a view 
to her destruction. The $80,000 which Spain paid was for seizure and 
detention of the " Virginius,' ' no part of which went to the relatives of 
those who were murdered, so the crime was in no sense avenged until Cer- 
vera's ships were destroyed and Santiago fell twenty-five years later. 



DIFFICULTIES AND PERILS OF THE HAVANA 

BLOCKADE. 



By 




{Captain of the Cruiser "New York.") 

THE Havana blockade was a more anxious one than that of any of 
the neighboring ports, as there were two large, swift torpedo-boat 
destroyers in the harbor, and we naturally expected an attack by 
these. During the day we were in easy and plain sight, and we 
ourselves could distinguish the guns in the batteries, the men at work and, 
frequently, standing closer in, could look up the streets and somewhat into 
the harbor. 

At the first go-off the batteries were not so powerful but that we could 
have silenced them and kept them silenced with the ships we had, could the 
risk of injury to our heavier ships have been undergone. The fleet at Spain's 
disposal was too great a menace for this to be approved by the government, 
so that the batteries were left to grow and strengthen. Those on the lower 
ground to the west of the city, the last of which was some three miles 
distant from the harbor entrance, had but little westerly command, and at 



48 DIFFICULTIES AND PERILS OF THE HAVANA BLOCKADE. 



this time we could have parried both these and the city from the somewhat 
extensive bay at the head of which -is the seaside resort of Marianao, 
formed by the sweep of the shore to the southward a mile or so west of the 
last battery. 

This southerly trend is sufficient to have enabled our ships to lie in 
comparative, if not absolute, safety and take the whole series of these 
batteries as far as Santa Clara (the first west of the entrance and the most 
powerful) with a flanking fire at from three to five miles. But this fire 
would have been a worriment rather than an injury to the 

A Temptation to -- '■ ' * ■ ; . . 

'.. batteries, though immense destruction might nave been 

Throw Heavy Shot. . . . 

dealt the city. The military effect might have not been 
commensurate with the expenditure of ammunition which, in the earlier 
stages of the war, it was important to economize. Besides, the ships most 
fitted for the service could have ill been spared from the blockading duty. 

Changes from the monotony of the first established blockade came 
quickly. It was but a fortnight from our starting from Key West that the 
larger part of our heavy ships was on its way to San Juan. By this time we 
had been numerously reinforced by revenue vessels, lighthouse tenders, 
yachts and tugs — excellent material for the* duty on which all had been, 
which did not require battleships. A commodore (Watson) had been 
appointed afloat, and another (Remey) was in command of our base at Key 
West. Cervera was due on this side of the Atlantic, and the great question 
was to meet and bring him to action. To Commodore Watson was left the 
covering of the Havana blockade, while Sampson went eastward in search 
of the Spanish fleet. 

San Juan was locked in and bombarded. Cervera not being there, 
Sampson at once returned on his tracks, arriving at Key West to find the 
flying squadron, which went on* to Cienfuegos, reinforced by the " Iowa." 
The commander-in-chief, with all the rest of his force, once again joined 
the Havana blockading force, but moved the greater part of it eastward to 
oppose Cervera's advance from that direction, the latter having already been 
heard of as being finally in Santiago de Cuba. The flying squadron had 
been ordered there from- Cienfuegos, but on hearing that the commodore in 
command proposed returning to Key West for coal, the commander-in-chief 
was directed to go to Santiago, where he arrived June i with the " New 
York," "Oregon," " Mayflower" and the torpedo boat " Porter." 

This sudden transferrence of interest from Havana to Santiago 
brought an entirely new phase to the blockade. The heavy fighting ships, 
with few exceptions, and these chiefly the monitors, were before the latter 
port, and there then ensued a month of wearisome _ and toilsome watching 



COCK FIGHTERS. 



ABORIGINAL NEGRITO. 




FEMALE WATER CARRIER SHELLING CORN. 



TYPES OF THE PHILIPPINE NATIVES. 



WKT PASSAGE OF A DRAFTED PASSENGER. UNLOADING MULES FROM A TRANSPORT OFF 

THE COAST OF CUBA. 




THE SIGNAL CORPS STRINGING TELEGRAPH WIRES IN PORTO RICO. 



SPANIARDS LOOTING HOUSES IN SANTIAGO JUST BEFORE THE SURRENDER 




CAPTAIN EVANS RECEIVING ADMIRAL CERVERA ON BOARD THE "IOWA," 
AFTER THE SURRENDER, JULY 3, 1898. 



DIFFICULTIES AND PERILS OF THE HAVANA BLOCKADE. 49- 



against the escape of the caged squadron. As this was the blockading of a 
hostile squadron and not of a port particularly, for which, in fact, we had 
no uses and which was of no military importance, it differed widely in its 
methods from what had gone before. The commander-in-chief immediately 
upon his arrival tested the strength of the batteries, with a view to sending 
in close the battleships with their searchlights at night. The ships were 
drawn round the narrow entrance with their heads toward it, ready to 
assault at once the enemy should he appear. 

At nightfall a battleship moved in to between one and two miles and 
fixed a searchlight up the, narrow canon which serves as a channel to the 
deep inner bay, which is invisible from outside. On her 
port hand was another battleship ready to fire in case Watch Dogs 
anything appeared. The one showing the searchlight was MOt Q^^^° S 
relieved every two and a-half hours, so that as there were 
usually but three the duty fell very heavily, and was one of much anxiety 
to the captains. The crews had chiefly to sleep in the superstructure on 
account of the great heat, and though no serious injuries to the ship were 
apprehended from gun fire the men were practically unprotected. 

Fortunately, they were not fired upon, and the month passed without 
the loss of a life from the carrying out of this duty. The remaining vessels 
of the squadron drew close in to the searchlight ship, and inside this latter 
were stationed three small vessels of the "Gloucester" class, and within 
these again and close under the Morro three steam launches as pickets. 
These last were frequently subjected to musketry fire, but no one was 
injured. 

The attempted closing of the entrance by the sinking of the " Merri- 
mac " was at once seen to be a failure, on account of her getting too far in, 
and the persistent searchlight was the only thing which prevented the sortie 
of Cervera at night. They found it impossible to come out in face of the 
blinding glare which made it impossible to navigate the narrow channel, 
which was so lighted that the smallest boat could not cross without our 
knowledge. This use of the searchlight was certainly one of the basic 
elements of our success. Had the Spanish Admiral succeeded in coming 
out at night, the chances of at least some of his ships escaping would have 
been immensely greater than during the day, and that the war might end 
quickly it was necessary that none should get away. 

In the meantime, so many ships had been drawn to the vicinity of San- 
tiago that blockade running became very active on the south coast west of 
Santa Cruz. Small vessels from Mexico and from other Spanish-American 
ports in the Gulf and from Jamaica were constantly increasing in number, 



SO PEACE. 

using Batabano particularly as a point of delivery. This, however, was 
soon blocked, and the entire length of some 500 miles was patrolled by a 
number of our lighter ships, making communication so hazardous that all 
attempts had practically ceased by the end of hostilities. 

One of the last ships making the effort was the fine transatlantic 
steamer " Santo Domingo," which was driven ashore and burned by the 
" Eagle " near Cape Frances. Her destruction practically ended the blockade 
running of this section. Further east the inner waters of this great stretch 
of reefs were harried by a detail of vessels, some five or six of which were 
constantly on the station, and which, in addition to ordinary blockade duty, 
did most effective and gallant service in the bombardment of Manzanillo 
and the sinking there of the Spanish gunboats on that station by the u Wil- 
mington," "Helena," "Manning," "Hist" and "Hornet." 

The occupation of Guantanamo Bay was an easement to the southern 
blockade, the benefit of which can scarcely be measured. It at once became 
our coaling and repair station for the entire southern coast. Coaling at sea 
is at best but a difficult makeshift. It can be done, but, as a rule, it was weari- 
somely slow and was dangerous to both collier and cruiser. Guantanamo gave 
opportunity to coal and overhaul at the same time, and this, for the smaller 
ships especially, was of the utmost importance. Had hostilities continued, 
a coaling station would have also been established further west, and we 
should thus have had Key West, Guantanamo Bay, and a third (probably the 
Isle of Pines) in the 2,000 miles ellipse of the blockade. 



T 



PEACE 

By Franklin Trtjsdeu,. 

HE Pride of the Antilles bowed her head, 
She had snapped her teeth in vain ; 
Her faith was weak and her hope was dead, 
Crushed by the power of Spain. 



'Twas then that a greater power arose, 
And o'er the Western wave 

A voice called " Halt " to Cuba's foes, 
And an arm stretched forth to save. 



THE FIGHT AT GUANTANAMO. 



5* 



The voice was the surge of a people's soul, 
In the arm was a mighty sword, 

In the wake of a war-time thunder's roll 
Was the blood of heroes poured, 

Till the heart of the Don no longer braved 

The force of the Iron Hand, 
And the flag of the Great Republic waved 

Throughout that weary land. 

The dogs of war have ceased to bark, 
The wings of peace are spread, 

And a gleam of glory lights the dark 
In the graves of a nation's dead. 

God grant these hundred days of strife 

May bring a hundred years 
Of plenteousness and peaceful life, 

And an utter dearth of tears. 

For men are no less brave at home, 
And women's hearts are stronger 

When soldier sweethearts cease to roam 
And war alarms no longer. 

If men must work and women weep, 

Why should it be for others ? 
So let the dogs of war still sleep 

And let all men be brothers. 



THE FIGHT AT GUANTANAMO. 

By a Sailor of the "Texas." 

/ / ~T T^BlylvO," said the man beside me. " I guess I came pretty near 
I I being shot." 
.A*. "We stood on the quarter-deck of the " Texas " at Guan- 

tanamo. The marines a few hundred yards away were moving 
through the thick cover in skirmishing order, driving the Spanish guerrillas 
before them, and across the water came the continual splutter of their rifles. 
Purls of smoke gleamed for an instant against the green foliage and faded. 



5? 



THE FIGHT AT GUANTANAMO. 



A roar came from the ravine in advance of the marines occasionally, telling 
that Commander McCalla, who had taken the " Marblehead " to a position 
enabling him to direct a flanking fire upon the Spanish, had dropped another 
shell where it was needed. The picture was an absorbing one. But when 
the man beside me said he had nearly been shot I forgot the marines 
instantly and turned to ask about it, realizing that if he had nearly been shot 
I must have been, too. He pointed to the deck at his feet. A Mauser bullet 
had gouged a piece out of it, and the wood beneath showed clean and new. 
Several of us became interested in a gun shield of improved pattern right 
after that, but it was uncomfortable there, for Captain Philip and the officers 
about him were too busy scanning the smoke-topped ridge to notice a mere 
rifle bullet, and we came out of the shelter to see the rest of the piece. 
Then a queer thing happened. The Spanish moved a gun down to the shore 
across the bay opposite to that in which the marines were busy and opened fire 
without giving notice of their purpose. Then the " Texas " belched smoke 
and flame, first on one side and then on the other, pouring shrapnel into the 
cover toward which the marines were advancing. An armed collier added 
the music of her guns. The splutter of rifles was heard on 

In a Storm of Shot gjdes of us, and on the flank thundered McCalla of 
and Shell. 

the "Marblehead." It struck me that Captain Philip of 
the " Texas " must have more on his hands than one man could possibly 
attend to, so I went to see how he was succeeding. He was getting his own 
marines and his machine guns into boats to reinforce the hard-pressed men 
on the hill. He had seen that their situation was serious. To the fighting 
he paid no attention, apparently, but a glance here and there told him that 
his officers were carrying out his orders. He had no thought of stray bullets, 
that was plain. And he was not to be deceived. A young officer, a bit 
excited, told him some Spanish troops were visible beyond the crest of the 
ridge. Up went the busy captain's telescope. It was leveled for an instant 
only. 

" Nonsense," he said, " those are our fellows, not Dagoes." 

And that night, when the camp of the marines was surrounded on three 
sides by Spanish riflemen, the men and machine guns, which Captain Philip 
toiled to get ashore that afternoon while bullets sang and batteries were 
roaring, helped to sweep back the enemy and avert a disaster. Perhaps the 
aid he sent was just enough to turn the scale. So now, when I think of that 
spirited battle picture at Guantanamo, I see in the foreground a busy man 
who could weigh well all the duties which pressed his attention in the roar 
of battle, and tell which was of paramount importance. 



BOMBARDMENT OF SAN JUAN. 



53 



BOMBARDMENT OF SAN JUAN. 

By Seaman Edward O'Neill, of the "Detroit." 

IT was on or about April 29 that the flagship "New York" signaled to 
us to go to Key West and take on plenty of coal and prepare for a long 
voyage. We did so, and then anchored outside with the fleet. It was 
rumored that we were to go to Porto Rico. We got up anchor on 
May 1, and were starting off when Sampson got orders to postpone the trip. 
He then ordered us to resume our blockade off Havana. The men were 
disappointed, for we thought we were going to have a fight. 

About 12 o'clock the next day the " New York " ordered us to get up 
full steam and follow her. We picked up the rest of the fleet along the 
line. That night the signals were displayed, and the " New York " ordered 
a sharp lookout, as the Spanish fleet had left the Cape Verde Islands, and 
was making for Porto Rico. 

It was Sampson's intention to steam slow and wait for the fleet, engage 
in battle and proceed to destroy Porto Rico. He lay off Hayti two days, but 
saw no Spaniards. It was on May 11 that the "New York" earner along- 
side of us and the admiral gave us the following orders: 

" To-morrow morning we shall be in sight of Porto Rico. Proceed right 
up the bay, take soundings, and if they fire on you return fire. To-night I 
will transfer my flag to the 'Iowa;' so take orders from her and keep 1,000 
yards ahead of her." Thus we had the honor of leading the fight. 

At daylight we steamed up the bay, with the fleet following. The port 
was in full view. We kept on going, as no guns were fired on us. Sampson 
thought we were getting too close and ordered us to stop, 
but the brave " Detroit " kept right on. Bombl^dment 

The "Iowa" turned her broadside on the forts and 
fired a small gun in the water. This was only a ruse, but it worked like a 
charm, for the Spaniards thought we were firing on them, and they opened 
fire on us, and we right under their noses — so close that they could not 
train their guns on us. The " Iowa " then let go her broadside and took 
half of the main fort with it ; the " Detroit" followed with a discharge of 
her six 5-inch, and did terrible work, and the " Indiana " and the monitors 
joined the band. 

One of the "Indiana's" 13-inch struck the barracks and lifted it 
bodily. The guns on the main fort spoke only once ; that was when they 
first fired. They never spoke after the " Detroit's " first volley. Around the 



54 



DESCRIPTION OF THE BATTLES ABOUT SANTIAGO. 



fort we went one by one, emptying our guns. After three hours of terrific 
fighting the fort at San Juan was silenced. We then withdrew and the 
Admiral went back to his own ship and signaled for the number of 
wounded. All we lost was one killed on the " New York" and three 
wounded slightly on the " Iowa." The " Detroit," that was in the midst 
of it all, did not receive a scratch. 



A THRILLING DESCRIPTION OF THE BATTLES 
ABOUT SANTIAGO 




THE difficulties attending the inauguration and execution of the cam- 
paign for the capture of Santiago can never be fully understood by 
any except the participants. These began with the landing of our 
troops at Baiqairi and did not terminate even with the surrender 
sf General Toral. 

It was seldom, indeed, that the supplies were brought up to the fighting 
lines in any great ey.cs^s of their immediate needs ; and the entire absence 
of the usual comforts and conveniences of even the simplest army life during 
the whole of the expedition, and sometimes of medical essentials even in the 
hour of utmost *ieed, was one of its most marked features after landing. 
Even the shelter tents and flies were abandoned and all bivouacked without 
the wall of the common tent. The energy with which every element was 
driven from first to last will be sufficiently understood when such men as 
General Shafter and Colonels Humphrey and Weston had the task in hand. 

The means of expediting the landing of stores seemed inadequate, even 
to the last, and it is understood that lighter after lighter ordered to the 
Cuban coast was sunk at sea, and the lack of quick com- 
^Lost atSca^ munication between the vessels or of any launches was 
apparently irremediable. The extent to which the trans- 
ports suffered in their ground tackles, capstans, small boats and other para- 
phernalia, and the dread their masters had of even greater loss on such a 



DESCRIPTION OF THE BATTLES ABOUT SANTIAGO. 



55 



surf-beaten, rock-bound shore, was constantly shown, and the navy appeared 
to leave the army at last much to its own devices. 

The almost insuperable difficulties that attended the debarkation of our 
army continued when the advance was made, and the disadvantages of our 
troops operating against a strongly intrenched and fortified enemy were 
incalculably great. Nothing like the usual proportion of artillery was 
present in the field to aid the other arms as accessories before the fact, and 
the comments on and results of this can come best from line officers of the 
other arms. 

The remarkable marksmanship of our trained soldiers was hardly more 

exploited than the gross ignorance of our recruits. The books say that it 

ought not to be possible to successfully assault in front unshaken, still more 

well fortified infantry, under modern conditions. But in 

this instance dismounted cavalry, as well as its confrere of 0u *L v,ct0 'yy ,0,ates 

Ji Book Rules. 

the infantry arm, did, without bayonets, successfully assault 

infantry posted on commanding ground, behind water, well intrenched, 
valiant and unshaken, and the severity of the task is indicated by the list 
of casualties, as compared with the actual numbers which the immediately 
opposing trenches held. 

When the fight was over, though successful everywhere, we had no 
reserves — Bates' independent brigade having been in the assault first at 
Caney and then by a night march reinforcing the left at San Juan under 
most urgent calls. It was afterward supposed that the gap between our 
right and the bay was closed by Garcia's forces, and the demand for the sur- 
render of the Spaniards was made prior to any knowledge of the intention 
of Cervera to escape with his fleet or of the arrival of the enemy's reinforce- 
ments. Such a conjunction of events may indicate the rapidity of the 
changes in the situation. Indeed, the fighting of this army came up to 
the highest expectations, and accomplished results beyond what it is usual 
to expect of a force so constituted. 

At early dawn of July i the troops of Lawton's division started into the 
position previously designated for them to occupy. The one battery of 
artillery assigned to duty with this division for the day occupied a position 
overlooking the village of El Caney, 2,400 yards distant. 
General Chaffee's brigade took up a position east of the Ludl0 a W T a r ^e t tC Hat 
village, ready to carry the town as soon as it should have 
been bombarded by the artillery. General Ludlow's brigade took up a posi- 
tion to the west of the village in order to cut off the retreat of the Spaniards, 
when they should be driven out and attempt to retreat to the city of Santiago. 
But with soldierly instinct and admirable effect he closed in upon the 



56 



DESCRIPTION OF THE BATTLES ABOUT SANTIAGO. 



defences of the village, and his white sailor hat became a target for the enemy 
dnring the hours he hugged the blockhouses on his flank of the well-defended 
village. Colonel Miles' brigade was held in reserve south of the village. 

The artillery opened fire about 7 a. m. The battery was entirely 
beyond the reach of small arms' fire, and the enemy had no artillery. The 
battery opened with shrapnel at what appeared to be a column of cavalry 
moving along the road from El Caney toward Santiago, then fired a few 
. shots at the blockhouse, then a few at hedges where the enemy's infantry 
seemed to be located, and then fired a few shots into the village. At about 
11 o'clock the battery stopped firing. During all this time a continuous fire 
of musketry, partly firing at will and partly by volleys, was kept up along all 
parts of the lines. Our advance was drawing closer toward the enemy's 
works, and the brigade in reserve brought up the line. 

General Bates' independent brigade reached the position in the afternoon 
and also went into the line, all closing on toward the village. Between 1 
and 2 o'clock the division commander directed the battery 
Fl P^actic^^ °* ar ^^ ei T t° concentrate its fire upon the stone fort, or 
blockhouse, situated on the highest point in the village on 
the northern side, and which was the key-point to the village. The practice 
of artillery against this was very effective, knocking great holes in the 
fort and rendering it untenable. The infantry of Chaffee's, Bates' and 
Miles' brigades then made an assault upon the work and carried it. 

There were a number of small blockhouses on the other side of the 
village, from which a strong fire was kept up for some titne after the stone 
fort had fallen. Word was sent to the commander of artillery to bring his 
battery down so as to take these blockhouses, but by the time the battery 
had arrived the fire had ceased. But there was one blockhouse still occupied 
by the Spaniards, and at this the battery fired four shots, resulting in the 
loss of a number of Spaniards. Orders having reached the division 
commander in the meantime to withdraw his forces as soon as possible and 
come into touch .with the division on his left, our troops were not moved into 
the village, but were ordered to bivouac near the main road leading to the 
city of Santiago. 

During the second of July there were a great many casualties, resulting 
not entirely from aimed fire, but from bullets clearing the crest of our 
intrenchments and going far beyond, striking men as they were coming 
together into position or as they were going back and forth bringing water, 
caring for the wounded, etc. Many casualties also resulted from the fire of 
sharpshooters stationed in trees with such thick foliage that the sharpshooters 
could not be seen. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE BATTLES ABOUT SANTIAGO. 



It seemed incredible that men should be so reckless as to remain w'lhin 
our lines and continue firing, and it is believed by many that what was 
reported to be fire from sharpshooters was simply spent 
bullets that came over the crest of our works. But I and shar Pshooters 
the members of my staff can testify to the fact that m 
many places along the road leading up to the centre of our lines the sharp 
crack of the Mauser rifle could be heard very close to the road, and there 
were all the usual indications of the near and selected aim against 
individuals. Scouting parties were sent out from time to time to get hold 
of these fellows, and a number of them were captured or shot ; it was not 
until a day or two afterward, however, that they were all cleared out. 

Our troops suffered a great deal of unavoidable exposure from heat and 
rain. Many days and nights it was necessary for them to bivouac without 
putting up their shelter tents. In other cases the ground was so wet 
that it was impossible to be protected from it, and so our men were obliged 
to remain for days and nights in their wet clothing, the same being true of 
officers as of men. All this, moreover, occurred within a day's march of the 
base of supplies. 

We were told when we entered upon the campaign that it was necessary 
above all things to sleep off the ground, and hammocks were recommended 
to secure this end. - Some were seen in the original bales 
on the transports, but it is doubtful whether the soldiers jhrown^way 
could have carried hammocks in addition to what they 
already had to carry. Even such heavy intrenching tools as were on hand 
were felt to be a burden. Some men, notably among the volunteers, 
started out with overcoats, but these were left on the transports or quickly 
abandoned ; in some cases even blankets, blouses and underclothing were 
thrown away. Knapsacks were strewn along the roadsides. And yet it is 
almost as difficult in the Cuban climate to keep warm at night as it is to 
keep cool in the daytime. What became of personal property wherever left 
will possibly prove a problem for some one to solve. On the subject of 
uniforms it is said, the khaki uniform quickly loses its shape and dandy 
color, and is not strong enough to withstand the thorns constantly met 
with beside the roads. The knapsack or pack seems to disappear and all 
come down naturally to the blanket roll. 

A serious question presented was the disposition of the heavy pack 
when the soldier goes into action. Shall he carry it with him, weighing 
him down in the charge and pursuit, or shall he throw it away never to see 
it again, perhaps? In the battles of July I and 2 it became in most 
cases a physical necessity to throw the pack aside. In some instances the 



58 



DESCRIPTION OF THK BATTLES ABOUT SANTIAGO. 



regiments deposited their packs by the roadside and marched some miles 
after the battle to recover them again. In others, packs were thrown 
haphazard into the bushes, and in many cases were never recovered by their 
proper owners. Apparently the Cubans and the sick found some comfort 
from the owners' loss. Both pack animals and packers were overworked. 
It was some time before the wagons could be unloaded and used. At one 
time the places of the packers, who were nearly all sick, were taken by 
men from the firing line. 

As an indication of the strain, little or no commissary supplies, such as are 
furnished by post exchange and commisssaries, were at any time furnished be- 
yond Sabilla. Such things as pocket-combs, tooth brushes, 
W °Supp L Hes ° f snoestrin g s ) matches, tobacco, pipes — little things that did 
not take up much room and* are of such small weight, but are 
of incalculable importance to the soldier — were not to be had. The stories of 
the prices paid for tobacco, and discontent about insufficient coffee, officers 
without a shirt to their backs, and clusters of them in ragged and soiled 
trousers, are too numerous to need more than a reference. 

The volunteers found it difficult to contend with an invisible enemy 
pouring in an effective fire from a position impossible to determine. The. 
bayonet was not used in the campaign, except as an intrenching tool and to 
grind coffee. 

In the beginning the Cuban soldiers were used largely as outposts on our 
front and flanks. There was a great deal of discussion among officers 
of the expedition concerning the Cuban soldiers and the aid they 
rendered. It appears that they had very little organization. or discipline, 
and they did not, of course, fight in the battle line with our troops. 
Yet in every skirmish or fight where they were present they seemed to 
have a fair proportion of killed and wounded. They were of undoubted 
assistance in our first landing and in scouting our front and flanks. It 
was not safe, however, to rely upon their fully performing any specific 
duty, according to our expectation and understanding, unless they were 
under the constant supervision and direction of one of our own officers, 
as our methods and views were so different and misunderstanding or failure 
so easy. 



DEWEY'S VICTORY IN MANILA BAY. 



59 



DEWEY'S VICTORY IN MANILA BAY. 



A Graphic Description of the Great Engagement, by an Eye Witness. 

By E. W. Harden, 

COMMODORE DEWEY'S final instructions from the Navy Depart- 
ment were brief. He was advised that " hostilities had commenced 
between Spain and the United States," and he was directed to 
" proceed to the Philippine Islands, find the Spanish fleet and 
capture or destroy it." 

At 5 p. m. on Saturday, April 23, the acting Governor of the 
British' colony at Hong Kong, Wilson Block, notified Commodore Dewey 
that as " a state of war existed between the United States and the Kingdom 
of Spain " he had been " instructed by Her Majesty's Government to ordei 
the United States squadron to leave the harbor of Hong Kong and the 
waters of the colony by four o'clock p. m. Monday, April 25." Commodore 
Dewey, whose preparations had been completed, sailed on Sunday afternoon 
without waiting for the expiration of the time fixed by the British Govern- 
ment. During the six-hundred-mile voyage to Manila the squadron changed 
its formation several times to prove the ability of the ships to manoeuvre to the 
satisfaction of Commodore Dewey. On Saturday afternoon, 
April 30, the headland of Cape Bolinao, in the Philippine p re pY r Vt!ons 
Islands, was sighted. « . . Made for Battle. 

Only half the boilers of the squadron had been in use 
since the squadron sailed from Hong Kong. Fires were now kindled under 
every boiler. Black smoke poured from every funnel. Splinter nettings 
were spread, fire hose was run between decks ready instantly to drown any 
fire caused by bursting shells, ammunition hoists were tried, magazines 
opened and every strip of bunting, except the signal flags used in navy 
codes, was taken in. Stanchions, rails, davits and other movable stuff was 
unshipped and stowed below, where no shot could reach them to create 
dangerous splinters. The few lifeboats left on board were gotten into shape 
for lowering to be towed behind a steam launch away from the ships in 
action. All spars and ladders which could not be stowed below decks were 
swung over the sides of the ships. Rigging that could be dispensed with was 
taken down, and the wire stays which stiffen the masts were so lashed with 
ropes that if shot away they coul4 not fall on deck to interfere with the 
working of the guns. 



DEWEY'S VICTORY IN MANILA BAY. 



Gommodore Dewey's officers made no effort to create a belief among the 
mra that the' battle would be easily won. On the contrary, they were told 
that the Spanish fleet was twice as numerous as the 
^GreatBat"' American, carried twice as many men, almost as many 
guns, and, with the forts, the mines and the torpedoes, 
which were or inestimable advantage in defensive operations, the Spaniards 
were known to have some advantage over us. 

It was now 7 p. in., Saturday, April 30. As darkness fell and the crews 
went to their battle-* sve supper, the spirit of excitement rose to exultation. 
Electric lights still flamed in every porthole and cabin and at every mast- 
head, and with the ttd and white answering signal lights our fleet looked 
like a squadron of exoursion boats returning to New York from a day's 
pleasure trip down the bay. By nine o'clock, however, the battle ports were 
closed, and while lights were burning brightly in the cabins, not a ray 
showed from the outside, The side lights required by law on all vessels at 
sea were not displayed. The mast lights were put out. When the entrance 
to Manila Bay was tweniy miles away the only ray of light that gleamed 
from any ship was the stem signal inclosed in a box so that it could be seen 
only by ships directly in the wake of the vessels. 

The flagship led the way. The " Baltimore," about 400 yards astern, 
followed the sternlight of the flagship ; the " Boston," third in line, followed 
the sternlight of the " Baltimore," and so on down to the 
^Battielinc 1116 su PPty sn ip s > more than a mile astern. Every man in the 
fleet then knew that Commodore Dewey was going to run 
the gantlet of the forts at Corregidor, and if possible do it without being 
discovered. The speed was six knots an hour. The sky was overcast, but 
the moon showed behind fleecy clouds. The sea was just heavy enough to 
give the ships a gentle undulation. Commodore Dewey timed his arrival 
with such wonderful precision that it was within a few minutes of midnight 
when the Corregidor Island light flashed ahead. The entire fleet, with 
neither increased nor diminished speed, steamed tranquilly on into the 
darkness of Manila Bay. 

The entrance is through either one of two passes lying on either side 
of Corregidor Island. The north pass is called Boca Chico and it is one 
mile wide. Both on the island and the mainland there are heavy forts with 
Krupp guns of high power. Commodore Dewey had received information 
at Hong Kong, which afterward proved to be correct, that there were mines 
guarding this approach. The south pass is called Boca Grande and is five 
miles wide. But the water is not so deep as in the narrow passage, and 
there are many rocks. Commodore Dewey chose Boca Grande, however. 



DEWEY'S VICTORY IN MANILA BAY. 



61 



The flagship steamed stealthily on and at midnight was directly<in the 
line of fire between the two forts. Not a sound was heard. I stood on the 
forecastle deck of the " McCulloch " watching with breath- 
less suspense the dark lines of Corregidor and of the main- Stc f ] tn& !**FZ[~ 

\ . . rcgidor at Night. 

land which guarded the narrows. While the flagship was 
close to the narrows the smokestack of the " McCulloch " suddenly belched 
tongues of flame. The soot of the soft coal had taken fire under the intense 
heat of the furnaces, which were storing up energy for the coming battle. 

Suddenly there was a bright flash of light from the mainland. A shot 
sped across the water just forward of us. Then the <u Raleigh," the next 
ship in line ahead of us, instantly answered the challenge with a shot from 
one of her heavy guns. The " McCulloch " followed with three 6-pounders 
whizzing toward the flash of light ashore. Concealment we now thought 
useless.' The forts answered twice, and the "Boston" closed the short, 
sharp duel with a long shot from her heavy 8-inch after gun, which it was 
afterwards ascertained actually hit the fort. 

The ships were soon out of range. There is no telegraphic communi- 
cation between the entrance to the bay and the fort at 
Cavite and the City of Manila. It seems incredible, but No s P anish Co ™' 

... P . ~ . -1 munlcation with 

it is prooi of the utter inefficiency of the Spanish prepa- Manila, 
rations for defence, that no provision was made to notify 
the sleeping city and the Spanish fleet of the arrival of the American squad- 
ron, and so our appearance was a genuine surprise. From Corregidor to 
Manila is nearly seventeen miles, and as Commodore Dewey did not want to 
begin battle until it was light enough for his gunners to see the enemy, he 
signaled with the red and white lights to proceed in double column formation 
at a speed of four knots an hour. 

The Commodore next signaled orders for the men to rest. The gun- 
ners lay down on the decks — anywhere they could find room. As there was 
a possibility of the battle opening at any moment everything was in readi- 
ness, every gun loaded, every furnace blazing at full power, every water- 
tight compartment closed below deck, magazines opened, ammunition hoists 
filled, gun crews stripped naked to the waist — and then the men were told 
to lie down at their posts and get some sleep, so that their nerves might be 
steady for the great battle in the morning. Officers moved about inspecting 
every point on the ships over and over again, and conversing in low tones, 
so as not to disturb the sleepers between whose legs they were obliged to walk. 

A few moments before 5 a. m., as the sky was lighting with the dawn, 
the spires of Manila appeared, dimly outlined on the horizon and below 
them the round domes of the public buildings. 



62 



DK WHY'S VICTORY IN MANILA BAY. 



The Commodore's orders were so well understood that there was no 
interchange of signals. Dewey himself stood on the forward bridge of the 
" Olympia," at its most exposed place, toward the forts and 
Dewey Takes His the s panisll fleets> when the flagship was within 4,500 

Position on the , „ ^ . r r .T 

Forward Bridge. y ara -S of Cavite the fort opened nre. Dewey paid no 
attention, but waited to see how quickly the Spanish gun- 
ners would get his range. His intention was to destroy the Spanish fleet 
first, then the forts at and near Cavite, and finally the forts at Manila, further 
up the bay. The Spanish flagship " Reina Cristina," lying nearly a mile 
up the bay, beyond Cavite, inaugurated the naval combat by opening fire on 
the " Olympia " at 4,000 yards range, to which challenge, however, Com- 
modore Dewey did not reply. The squadron moved steadily on, the 
"Olympia" far in the lead, the sole target for both the Spanish ships and 
the forts. The flagship had proceeded unscathed more than half a niile 
further, and shots were falling all about her, when Commodoie Dewey turned 
to Captain Grigsby and said : 

" Now, Grigsby, you can begin firing." 

The " Olympia " slowly swung around, presenting her port side to the 
enemy's guns. As she did so, her two 8-inch guns were discharged almost 
simultaneously. Before the echoes of the " Olympia's" 

^Begi^s' 6 guns ceased to reverberate, the "Baltimore," following in 
her wake, joined the attack with' her 8 and 6-inch guns. 
Bach ship manceuvered exactly like the " Olympia," with slow deliberation, 
absolute precision and in perfect order. 

The " McCulloch " stood in behind the line of battleships, but close at 
hand with heavy hawsers stretched across her quarter-deck, ready to dart in 
and tow out of range any of our vessels which should become disabled. 
Four Spanish land forts and six warships lying in the harbor at Cavite 
were belching incessant torrents of flame, notwithstanding which, after the 
squadron had passed in line before the enemy, using all the port guns, it 
turned deliberately and repassed the forts and the fleet, this time using the 
starboard guns. And so while there was no diminution of the broadsides, 
the gunners who worked the starboard batteries had ten minutes of rest while 
the port batteries were in action, and then, when the ships turned again, the 
starboard batteries were again brought into action and the port batteries were 
at rest. Five times our squadron paraded thus in battle line before the 
enemy's fleet and forts, within a range of 2,000 yards. 

During the third passage the Spanish Admiral, Patritro Particio Montojo 
y Pasaron, on his flagship " Reina Cristina," a modern steel cruiser of high 
power, quick-firing guns, steamed slowly out to meet the "Olympia." 



DKWKY'S VICTORY IN MANILA BAY. 



Commodore Dewey leaned over the bridge to tell one of his aides, who was 
on the deck below, to go through the ship and give orders personally to the 
captain of each gun crew to concentrate his fire upon the " Reina Christina." 

Admiral Montojo, like Commodore Dewey, stood on his bridge, unpro- 
tected, with his two sons as aides. The next time our fleet passed the line 
the Spanish admiral again steamed out toward the 
" Olympia." Again all the guns of our flagship were ^^m^M™ 
concentrated on her. It was a duel between two flagships. 
A shot from one of the " Olympia's " 5-inch guns tore away one end of the 
bridge on which Admiral Montojo stood. Undismayed, he stepped to the 
other end and continued to direct the fire of his gun crews. 

This time the two flagships approached to within less than 2 ? ooo yards 
of each other before the " Reina Cristina " tried to turn back. As she 
swung round to retire under the protection of the guns at Cavite an 
8-inch shell from one of the " Olympia's " forward guns struck the " Reina 
Cristina " squarely on the stern, under the protective deck, and ploughed 
through until it almost reached the ship's bow, blowing up the main forward 
magazine in its course. The flagship was wrecked by this one shot. Her 
sides were riddled and her crew practically annihilated by the flying missiles 
from the exploded shell. Admiral Dewey learned from the British Consul 
the next day that 130 people were killed in the " Reina Cristina," includ- 
ing the captain Commanding, and ninety were wounded by this single shot, 
which number represented 75 per cent of the ship's complement. 

Admiral Dewey, at 7.30, after three hours of incessant battle, signaled 
the fleet to withdraw and report casualties. Thereupon the flagship halyards 
blossomed with fluttering signals. Small boats were lowered from our ships, 
and we saw the commanding officer of each being rowed toward the 
" Olympia." Captain Hodgdon was away not more than thirty minutes, but 
it seemed an age to us. Finally we saw him returning in his gig with a 
smile on his face, but we were not prepared for the almost unbelievable 
statement which he made as he ascended the companionway. Captain 
Hodgdon said : 

"There was not a single man killed in our entire fleet, nor one seri- 
ously wounded. Our ships have suffered no damage worth reporting. The 
battle will go on as soon as the men have had breakfast." 

At 10.30 o'clock, after two hours and forty Stop Firing ; 
. L , V- « . * . ,. Until Breakfast 

minutes' rest, the fleet again formed in line of battle, js served. 

this time the " Baltimore " leading toward Cavite. The 

dispatch boat " McCulloch " was lying about three miles from the town of 

Manila, which presented a scene of perfect quiet and almost matchless beauty. 



6 4 



DEWEY'S VICTORY IN MANILA BAY. 



Before the " Baltimore " reopened the cannonading we could hear the 
sound of church bells in Manila softly floating across the water. The peace- 
ful calm of the scene seemed real and the battle a dream. The " Baltimore " 
is not a beautiful ship. She is not even armored, but she has the lines of 
a battleship and she looked magnificent as she went straight at the enemy, 
with every gun trained forward. She had been ordered to silence the 
snost active of the forts on the mainland — that at Canacao Point. 

The second engagement continued two hours and ten minutes, the 
Spaniards fighting with unabated courage, but only one of their shells 
penetrated an American ship, the " Baltimore," striking on the starboard 
breast and passing through, but was deflected by a steel stanchion and made 
to retrace its course. It was this shot that caused practically all the damage 
that any of our ships sustained in the action, and which by striking and 
exploding two 6-inch shells wounded seven seamen, but none seriously. 
These were the only casualties to the American forces. The last Spanish 
fort at Canacao Point signaled at 12.30, by international code flags, "We 
surrender." 

• The havoc done by the guns of the American fleet had been even more 
terrible than was first reported. Spanish officials were reticent as to their 
casualties, but there was evidence that the number of killed was at least 
321, and that more than 700 were wounded. This is the most accurate 
estimate that could be obtained by Admiral Dewey two weeks after the 
battle, nor have the losses been accurately ascertained since the conclusion 
of the war. 

As to the ships destroyed, the wrecks of all of Montojo's ships were lying 
in the shallow water about Cavite, silent witnesses to the terrible bombardment. 

The u Reina Cristina," the one which suffered so great 
Results of the a j qss ^ ^ wag a fi rs j-_ c i ass cru iser of 3,S20 tons dis- 
Engagement. ' m t U1U 

placement. She carried six 16-centimetre breech-loading 

rifles, three 6-pounder rapid-fire, two 3-inch rapid-fire, two 9-pounder rapid- 
fire and six 37-millimetre Hotchkiss revolving cannon. She had five torpedo 
tubes on board, and was a first-rate fighting ship of her class. She is still 
lying in four fathoms of water with only her upper works showing. She 
was completely gutted by fire before she sank, and masts and spars were 
charred to cinders. Her guns are above water, but they were ruined by the 
intense heat. All of her plates were bent and twisted and there were three 
holes in her two funnels, made by shells from 6-pounders. 

The "Castilla" was a first-class unprotected cruiser of 3,260 tons, built 
of wood. She was not in good trim, and all her fighting was done from the 
bay west of Cavite, where she was moored fore and aft with her starboard 



DEWEY'S VICTORY IN MANILA BAY. 



65 



battery exposed to the fire of our guns. The " Castilla " had a battery of 
four 15-centimetre and two 12-centimetre Krupp breech-loading guns and 
two torpedo tubes. She is lying sunken and burned near the " Reina 
Cristiua," and only her upper works now show above water. 

In the harbor with the " Castilla" and " Cristina " is the wreck of the 
"Don Antonio de Ulloa," an iron ship of 1,160 tons, which was equipped 
with four 12-centimetre, two 7-centimetre, four 42-millimetre Nordenfeldt, 
four Hotchkiss revolving cannon and two torpedo tubes. She is one of the 
few ships that was not burned by our shells. She was hit by an 8-inch 
shell which seemed to break her in two, and she sank of her own weight. 

Behind Cavite in a sheltered bay there are the wrecks of six other 
Spanish ships which were either burned or sunk by the American fleet. 

Graduates of the Naval Academy, at Annapolis, during the last twenty 
years know personally or by reputation Commander Woods, who was called 
familiarly " Tanglefoot " Woods, because of his peculiar way of walking. 
If he did not deserve the appellation because of his peculiar movements 
before, he is certainly entitled to it now. He had been assigned to the com- 
mand of the " Petrel," the little gunboat, which has 
hitherto been looked upon as a jo&e. People of the fleet Thc " Pctrel " 
were not looking for anything from the " Petrel." They Honors, 
thought she was so small that she would be practically 
useless in any general engagement, though she might do to run down small 
gunboats or to explore rivers. 

During the opening engagement the "Petrel" had proven so effective 
that she was assigned important work when our ships went into action the 
second time. She was given a fort to silence and she silenced it. Her draught 
is small, and she was able, therefore, to run up close to the fort, which she 
promptly did. If she had been a battle-ship, with eighteen inches of Har- 
veyized steel armor, instead of being a little gunboat, without even a pro- 
tective deck, she could not have behaved with greater bravery. Notwith- 
standing a heavy fire from the forts she laid up close to the shore and sent 
in shots as fast as her guns could be served, until the fort was silenced and 
she had achieved a victory which placed her commander among the heroes 
of the war, not only so far as bravery is concerned, but for execution and 
skill in handling his craft. 

The day of the battle the " Petrel " was given another important com- 
mission. Behind the breakwater and the arsenal at Cavite were the remain- 
ing ships of the Spanish flotilla. These ships had done some service during 
the battle, running out from their place of shelter to fire a few shots and 
then returning to a place of safety. They were not quick enough, however, 

5 



66 



DEWEY'S VICTORY IN MANILA BAY. 



to escape American shells, and all of them had been riddled and some of 
them set on fire by shots from our guns. To the " Petrel " was assigned 
the task of destroying these ships as well as some of the torpedo boats 
which, it was reported, still remained capable of service. The commodore 
was fearful of Spanish treachery, and of the possibility of some of these 
torpedo boats coming out during the night and attacking our vessels. The 
" Petrel " was sent to look after the vessels in the inner harbor, and she did 
her work well. Everything that was afloat, except the " Manila," a storeship, 
and some small steamers, were absolutely destroyed by the " Petrel." When 
she came out of the harbor at 5 o'clock there was not enough left of the 
Spanish fighting fleet to destroy an Erie Canal boat. We could hear the 
sound of explosions and see clouds of white smoke rising in the air and we 
knew the " Petrel " was busy, but she had shown an ability during the 
morning to get busy and we were therefore not surprised. But she was 
gone so long that we finally became anxious for her safety. About 5 o'clock 
we saw her come steaming slowly out, with six boats in tow, ranging in 
size from a 100-ton steam tug to a little steam launch. As she passed by 
the fleet all of the ships gave her a rousing cheer. 

Early Monday morning (May 2d) a small tug flying the Spanish flag, but 
with a flag of truce at the bow, came up the bay from the direction of 
Corregidor. She went alongside the flagship and a Spanish officer boarded 
her. She came to propose a surrender of the forts at Corregidor. Up to 
this time the Cavite forts had not received much of our attention, but now 
Commodore Dewey sent his men ashore, and in a few hours they had 
absolutely annihilated every vestige of fortification belonging to Spain 
in Cavite harbor. To accomplish the destruction of 
C th 1 e P vlct°o n ry° f the bi g> ni g n "P°wer guns of the forts bands of gun 
cotton were wound around them and then fired, producing 
terrific explosions and crushing the guns so they could not again be used. 

Commodore Dewey did not want the surrender of Manila. He knew 
he could have it any minute, but preferred to wait until a land force was at 
hand, which decision was a wise one, as subsequent events proved. 

Secretary L,ong's cable despatch announcing the promotion of Commo- 
dore Dewey to be a rear-admiral was well received in the fleet. It was 
expected, of course, and every officer would have been disappointed if it had 
not come. The first notice of his promotion that was issued was a slip from 
the flagship's printing office, giving the cable received, and this was sent to 
every officer and was read at morning muster. Promptly at 8 o'clock the 
flag of a rear-admiral, blue ground with two stars, was hoisted at the main 
and was promptly saluted by the foreign men-of-war in the harbor. Each 



THE ROMANCE OF ONE OF DEWEY'S GUNNERS. 



67 



salute was returned by the " Olympia." Spain' had more guns, more ships, 
more men and could throw a greater weight of metal than the ships in the 
Asiatic fleet of the United States Navy. The Spanish officers expected 
victory, and each ship was manned with two crews, one of which it was 
intended should be put aboard a captured vessel when our fleet surrendered. 
There was no lack of ammunition either, and, but for the superiority of 
marksmanship on the part of our gunners and the superior generalship of 
our commander-in-chief, there might have been a different sort of story to 
tell ; but a brave commander, and as gallant crews as ever served guns, won 
the victory, which must henceforth be regarded as one of the greatest ever 
achieved on the high seas, and for which the world will never cease to 
give its applause. 



THE ROMANCE OF ONE OF DEWEY'S GUNNERS. 



How " Dannie " Dooley Won a Manila Belle* 

By a Shipmate. 

WHEN Admiral Dewey took his ships into Manila Bay Dannie 
Dooley, from his place in the turret of the flagship " Olympia," 
thought only of the battle. After the smoke had cleared and 
while the heated waters of the bay were caressing the flaming 
wrecks of the enemy Dannie sought the shadow of his quarters and wrote a 
letter to little Mamie Donohue, who lives close to the bend in Mulberry 
street and had been Gunner Dooley's promised wife for the last two years. 

"Shure, me darlin' of darlin's" the letter ran, "we've jist finished de 
scrap wid them Spanish dagoes an' dose of dem wot didn't go down wid de 
ships is a floatin' around in de water as dead as de mackrels wot yer mudder 
fried for me on de day I left New York. Barrin' a scratch on me shoulder 
an' an awful thirst in me troat I'm as good now as I wuz whin de ould man 
started us on dis bloomin's kruse. Mannilly, dear, ain't even as purty as old 
Jersey City, an' judjin' from de heat here in de bay it must be awful hot on 
de shore. Shure, me time will be up in a month, darlin' and then I'll be 
makin' straight fur ould New York wid me pockets full of prize money an' 
me heart crowded over wid love for you." 

Three days after Mr. Dooley had sealed and posted the above letter to 
little Mis a Donohue he was one of the landing party sent by the Admiral to 



m THE ROMANCE OF ONE OF DEWEY'S GUNNERS. 



explore trie arsenal at Gavite. Half an hour after the soles of his No. 7 boots 
had first caressed the white sands of the beach he earned a cheer from his 
shipmates and a word of praise from his commanding officer by plunging into 
the surf and rescuing a native girl who had fallen from the sea wall beyond. 
Dooley for the first time took a good look at the maiden. He saw that her 
skin was of the tint of burnished bronze, that her eyes were snuff brown and 
beautiful, her feet and hands were small and shapely and the contour of 
her dainty figure would have delighted the most exacting connoisseur. 

Her name was Kantisse, and among the native women of old Cavite 
she was an acknowledged belle. When she recovered from her swoon the 
girl staggered to her feet and astonished the bystanders by coiling her naked 
arms about Dooley 's neck and pressing her full red lips against his own. 

From the day of his meeting with Kantisse Dooley was a steady 
applicant for shore leave, and much of his time was spent under the droop- 
ing palm trees which cluster like a ribbon of green velvet against the white 
and crumbling fortifications of the harbor. And the man was not alone 
during those warm hours spent on shore. Kantisse was always by his side. 

All love affairs have their ending, and all lovers have their sorrows. 
One day Gunner Dooley tried to make his dusky sweetheart understand that 
he had received his discharge papers and intended to take the next ship home. 

Dannie had expected tears and a fainting spell. Instead the music of 
her laughter rippled in his ears, and her soft, brown arms encircled his red 
neck. He tried to speak to her ; tried to utter the last farewell. But her 
kisses pressed fast and warm against his lips and all but smothered his words. 

That very night Dannie was on his way to Hong Kong. Stowed away 
in the hold of the same ship was dainty Kantisse. 

At Hong Kong the gunner changed ships. So did Kantisse. Two 
days after the long voyage to San Francisco had begun they found the girl 
and brought her before the captain. When they asked her the reason of her 
strange escapade she showed her white teeth and murmured : 

" My own Dannie." 

Then she caught a glimpse of Dooley, and with a glad cry sank into 
iiis arms. It was too late then to turn back, and so when the ship glided 
into the harbor of the Golden Gate Kantisse stood by the side of Dooley and 
together they watched the details of the landing. Once in 'Frisco Dooley 
tried to reason with the girl and persuade her to return, but it was without 
avail. That night the train paused for a moment at a wayside station and 
he sent the following telegram to his brother Willie in New York : 

WiiaiE Dooley: — Mate me in Jersey City wid ould man Harrigan's hack an' de cloak 
dat mudder wore last winter, an' as youse loves me say nothin' to no one about me comin' and 
kape Mamie Donohue away from the station. Dannie DooiyEY. 



THE ROMANCE OF ONE OF DEWEY'S GUNNERS. 



69 



When Gunner Dooley stepped from the train in Jersey City his brother 
Willie greeted him with a hearty handshake and then in an anxious voice 
exclaimed : 

" Fur de love of heavin, Dannie, wuz yer crazy or only Mulberry Bend 
drunk when ye sint that telegram to me ?" Linked with Manila. 

"Willie Dooley, ask no questions," replied Dannie. 
I " Ask no questions, but tell me has yez got mudder's cloak an' Harrigan's 
: hack outside ?" 

" Hully gee, de cloak an' de hack is outside all right, but would yez 
moind tellin' me what yez want wid mudder's fur-lined circler whin it's 
hot as blazes an' yer sweatin' like 'er stoker now? Mudder of heavin, 
what is dat " — 

For Willie Dooley saw a girl, brown as bronze and joyous as a debutante, 
leap from the platform of the car and greet his brother with these words : 
" My own Dannie." 

"Willie," he said, "dis is Miss Kantisse. She's a howlin' swell out in 
Minnilley, an' wots more she's de goirl I'm goin' ter marry next Sunday " — 

"Hully gee, Dannie!" said his brother, "ain't the loidy — ain't she — a 
— naygur ?" 

" Naygur, nothin'. She's my Kantisse. Why, de officers on board de 
old ship used tur call her de daughter of de Philippines an' trow bowkays at 
me fer winnin' her. Why, look at her, Willie, boy. Is der a goirl in all 
Mulberry street wi' sech eyes an' hair an' sech a purty little foot ? Look at 
her agin an' tell me if youse tink dat Mamie Donohue^ wid her faded blue 

eyes an' taffy-colored hair, is in de same class wid my Kantisse. I'm d- d 

glad ter hear dat Mame married der bartender." 

After Willie Dooley had escorted Kantisse and his brother into the back 
room of his Mulberry street saloon he went upstairs and broke the news to 
old Mrs. Dooley. 

" May heavin' preserve us !" exclaimed old Mrs. Dooley. " Sind fer 
Katie Clancey, the dressmaker, an' thin sind the pair ov thim upstairs ter 
recave me blessin'. Ah, but I wonder what that little Mamie Donohue will 
say whin she hears that our Dannie has won a goirl wid sich a beautiful 
name." 



7Q 



ASSAULT AND CAPTURE OF MANILA. 



ASSAULT AND CAPTURE OF MANILA. 

By Sidney May, . 

{Of the Astor Battery.) 

THE magnificent victory of Admiral Dewey in Manila Bay which 
destroyed eleven Spanish vessels and silenced the forts, made him 
master of the bay, but the city (Manila) remained in the hands of 
the enemy. He could have wrecked the place, but to have 
attempted to reduce Manila by bombardment would doubtless have led to 
complications with other powers, and had the city surrendered Dewey could 
not have taken possession, because he did not have a force of marines suffi- 
cient to hold it. For this sufficient reason he held his squadron intact and 
waited the arrival of reinforcements. To provide these General Merritt 
departed for Manila with a force of 6,000 men on June 28, which arrived at 
Cavite July 29. Other troops followed until there were all told 13,000 men 
landed near Manila, among whom were the Astor Battery. One of the 
brightest members of that heroic band was a New York boy named Sidney 
May, who was twice wounded in the engagement of August 13, when assault 
was made on the blockhouse and fortifications of Manila, who tells the story 
of that gallant charge as follows : 

I was a little behind in the first of the fighting, but made a rush for the 
front when the ball got at its best. The first man I noticed as I went 
forward on a trot was Sergeant Marcus E. Holmes, superintendent of the 
Army and Navy Club, New York. He was bandaging Sergeant Sillman's 
leg and I stopped beside them and in a moment after a pistol charge was 
made on our left flank, when blockhouse No. 13 was taken. I heard the order 
given to lie down. Almost at the same time I heard, above the rattle of 
pistols and guns, a cry, " My God ! I'm hit !" Then I saw Sillman get up 
and try to walk forward. His leg gave out under him and down he went. 
He got up again and tried it, and down he went again. 

I said, " Shall I come over and help you?" He said, " No ; I'm all right. 
Stay where you are. I'm going to scoop up a little mud and sand in front 
of myself." So I lay still, and he scooped up sand in front of him. After 
a while he tried to crawl off to the rear, but he was so weak he couldn't. 



ASSAUI/f AND CAPTURE OK MANILA. 



7i 



A bullet had struck him on the right knee-cap and gone clean through 
the leg. 

I said to Holmes, " Sillman's got it in the leg." Holmes says, " I'll 

come over and help you." Sillman says, " No." But just the same Holmes 

crawled over and knelt down beside Sillman, who sat up 

-to show him his leg. Their heads were close together as Aidin * His Wounded 
& & Comrade. 

they were looking at it. Holmes took out his handker- 
chief and had just passed it under the leg, going to tie it up, when Sillman 
fainted away and fell flat on his back. Then I heard something gurgling. 
There was Holmes, still kneeling down and holding his handkerchief. A 
Spanish bullet had gone into his mouth and blown off the back of his head. 

Sillman is getting well now. While he was lying there he was hit by 
a spent bullet in the right hip pocket. It went through his Bible and a 
little way into his flesh. I guess he has that bullet yet. 

The pistol charge ? That was made because the mud was so thick we 
couldn't drag our guns any further. You see the mud was waist deep, and 
the guns weighed 473 pounds each. The thing began at five o'clock in the 
morning and lasted until five in the evening. I guess it was a little after 
two o'clock when we got orders to give up our guns and lie down. There 
we were, all sprawling in the mud. 

General Mc Arthur came up on his little brown horse — say, that man 
was on his horse all day long. I don't believe he dismounted once in the 
whole twelve hours, even when he was ordering everybody else to lie down. 
Talk about fighters ! The officers were all like him, too. 

General Mc Arthur came up and his horse's hoof was within six inches 
of my face. The General says : " What man'll lead a charge up that road ? " 
I turned up my face. "I'll do it. General," I says. " No ; 
General," says Sergeant Sillman; " I'm a sergeant. I'll orde^d 
lead it." Then Captain Peyton March, who had been 
about thirty feet up the road, hurried over. " I'm commanding this battery, 
General " he said. " I'll lead the charge." 

" Certainly, sir," says General McArthur. Away we went, charging the 
Spanish blockhouse with nothing but our pistols. Some of the men were 
better athletes than Captain March and ran ahead of him. He wouldn't 
have that for a minute. " Get back in your place there," he ordered half a 
dozen fellows, " keep behind your captain." And all the time he kept 
running ahead of us as hard as he could go. No wonder the Spaniards got 
out of that blockhouse. 

We were in the woods part of the time, firing our pistols and whooping 
it up. Private Hollis had his hat shot off by one of our own men. About 



72 



ASSAULT AND CAPTURE OF MANILA. 



a dozen of us were away off from the others, lost. A regiment of Filipinos 
came marching from the right. We were all alone, as far as we could tell, 
in the woods. These Filipinos were going to cut in ahead of us. Sergeant 
Burdick waved his pistol at them and made signs that they must go back. 
They didn't understand English, but I'm blest if they didn't turn around 
and march away, and we didn't see them again. 

Our guns were 3-inch rapid-fire Hotchkiss rifles, throwing eight shells a 
minute. About 11 o'clock in the morning we had a good joke on the First 

Colorado Regiment. Their football team beat ours after- 
Colorado ^ en war d> but on the day of the battle we had a good laugh 

on them. On about our third try we sent a shell into the 
Spanish magazine at Santa Ana. The place caught fire, and the Spaniards 
ran. The First Colorado fellows didn't know that. Pretty soon the car- 
tridges in the magazine began to go off, a hundred or so at a time, and the 
Colorado fellows banged away at the magazine, thinking the Spaniards were 
firing at them. 

The beginning of the battle, too, was funny, now that it is over and I 
can look at the laughable side of it. The first shots began to fly at 5 o'clock 
in the morning when we were at breakfast. I was acting waiter to Captain 
March at the time, and confess to being a little anxious when the bullets 
began to spit, and zip, but holy my ! the shivers took me in a bunch when a 
shell hit the ground almost at my feet. I had Captain March's breakfast on 
a tray, but the shivers made me let go of it quicker than I can tell you, and 
the tray fell on the shell, w T hich fortunately didn't explode, but I jumped 
like a frightened bull-frog, and Captain March lost his breakfast. 

An hour after our hurried scramble from an uneaten breakfast, I caught 
a Mauser bullet in the fleshy part of my left hand, which didn't hurt much, 
and three minutes later " zip " another took me in the left leg. I say 
another, but it wasn't a bullet this time. Our gun was unlimbered under a 
shock about three feet high, and we had just fired a shot when a Spanish 
shell came sailing in and landed in the mud between our wheels, where it 
went off with a noise that blowed me end-over-end, and when I landed, I 
found that a scrap of the shell had touched my left peg. It hurt me worse 
than the Mauser, but I didn't give up, and kept my nerve until the finish, so 
as to miss none of the fun, and the glory, too. 



OUR SOLDIERS' SONG. 



73 



OUR SOLDIERS' SONG. 



By David Graham Adee. 



"When the destruction of Cervera's fleet became known before Santiago, the soldiers 
cheered wildly, and, with one accord, through miles of trenches, began singing ' The Star 
Spangled Banner.' " 



INGING " The Star Spangled Banner 



Singing our glorious anthem, 
Some with their latest breath ! 
The strains of that solemn music 

Through the spirit will ever roll, 
Thrilling with martial ardor 

The depths of each patriot's soul. 

Hearing the hum of the bullets ! 

Eager to charge the foe ! 
Biding the call to battle, 

Where crimson heart streams flow 1 
Thinking of home and dear ones, 

Of mother, of child, of wife, 
They sang "The Star Spangled Banner" 

On that field of deadly strife. 

They sang with the voices of heroes, 

In the face of the Spanish guns, 
As they leaned on their loaded rifles, 

With the courage that never runs. 
They sang to our glorious emblem, 

Upraised on that war-worn sod, 
As the saints in the old arena 

Sang a song of praise to God. 




In the very jaws of death ! 



74 



JUST BEFORE THE BATTLE OF EL CANEY, 



JUST BEFORE THE BATTLE OF EL CANEY. 



A Pathetic Tragic Incident of the Wan 

WHEN the colonel of the — th cavalry summoned Captain Burden 
to regimental headquarters, some one at the officers' mess asked 
who he was, anyway, that the " old man " should have picked 
him from among a dozen old campaigners for a consultation. 
"Nephew, or something, to a senator," growled a grizzled lieutenant, 
who had seen twenty years of service and was jealous of the — th's reputation. 
" Fresh from a desk in the War Department, but all-fired anxious to smell 
dago powder." 

" Ought to have joined the Rough Riders," added another, " they'll be 
in the fight to-morrow ; the — th's too full already, an' here's the old man 
asking him to supper before he's seen a week of service." 

" Tut! " interposed the regimental surgeon, " Burden's not a greenhorn, 
and the colonel knows it. Reckon you don't know what sent him out of 
Washington into this fever-stricken climate ; do you think a doughboy 'd 
join the fighting — th ? " 

" Come," said the adjutant, locking arms with the surgeon, for he saw 
the latter had something on his mind, and he, too, was curious about Captain 
Burden. " Let's go outside, and leave the fellows to their growling ; " then, 
when they had passed beyond the confines of the mess tent — u What was it, 
Johnson? The chap's no coward, and he interests me." 

" Well," said the surgeon soberly, " it isn't my business, but I don't 
mind telling you ; I've a cousin in the War Department, a chum of Burden's, 
and he wrote me to keep an eye on him. It was hard luck drove him out of 
Washington." 

; ' Humph ! " growled the adjutant sarcastically, " small pay and — " 

" No,' broke in the surgeon. " Burden has an income and — " 

" Then what the deuce? Why did'nt he stay in Washington and leave 

us poor devils to do the fighting? " 

" If you'd been in Washington it wouldn't take much 

A Love guessing," replied the surgeon, " for if you'd been there 

that Prompted -m -11 1 1 1x^1 

Sacrifices. you'd have known Miss R — , and now she played Burden, 

to throw him over for a doughboy ; so all Washington was 

on to it, and felt sorry for the captain, and didn't wonder when he threw up a 

fat position in the department and petitioned the Secretary for active service," 



JUST BEFORE THE BATTLE OF EL CANEY. 



75 



"And the doughboy?" grunted the adjutant, enlisted for all time in 
the new captain's behalf. " stayed in Washington with the reserves and — V 

" Not much ; and that's what puzzles the wise heads up there. He 
enlisted in the regulars and lit out for Santiago along with Burden, though 
I reckon they didn't come together." 

''What's his name? " asked the adjutant. 

The surgeon fumbled for the letter, glancing over it by the light of a 
neighboring lantern. " Hardey," said he, shortly, " and, by thunder, he's in 
the — th! What if he and Burden come together?" 

In the meantime Captain Burden, unconscious of the effect the summons 
from the colonel had upon his brother officers, stood before the commander 
of the regiment, at headquarters. 

" Captain Burden," said the latter, noting with a practiced eye the slender 
figure of the young officer, " you come to the — th highly recommended for 
coolness and courage. To-morrow we attack El Caney ; I have been ordered 
to call for volunteers to do a little scouting ; will you lead the party? " 

" Thank you," said Burden, simply ; " it will be an honor, I — " 

The colonel removed his eyeglasses. " Young man," said he, seriously* 
" the bush is full of Spaniards ; you may be killed or seriously wounded ; 
every caution will be required. 

" I will do my best, sir," replied Captain Burden ; " is the start to be 
made at once ? " 

The colonel wheeled about on his camp stool. "Orderly," said he 
sharply, " tell Captain Clark that I wish a volunteer party of some good 
men from his company to undertake a dangerous errand near the enemy's 
line. They are to report to me at once." 

u Your duty will be," he continued, turning to Captain Burden, " to 
reconnoitre as near as possible to the enemy's lines. You will skirt the base 
of El Caney, making a detour to the north. It is unnec- 
essary to say the volunteers will be under orders from you A Dangerous 
and are to be governed by your judgment." Reconnoissance. 

Five minutes later the tramp of approaching men 
was heard and two cavalrymen entered the commander's presence. Captain 
Burden, noting them critically, started ; the sharp tones of the colonel rang 
in his ears : 

" Corporal Joyce and Private Hardey, you are under orders to proceed 
according to Captain Burden's direction on a reconnoissance into the 
enemy's lines. That will do." 

Burden returned the men's salute mechanically. The presence of John 
Hardey filled him with conflicting emotions. He had fled from Washington 



76 



JUST BEFORE THE BATTLE OF EL CANEY. 



hoping to drown in the excitement of an aggressive campaign the sorrow 
which this man had brought upon him. Had it not been fox Hardey — he 
clenched his hands until the nails bit into the flesh. "What now?" an evil 
spirit whispered, " he is in your power, you may order him whither you 
will, even to death by Spanish bullets ; none will know of it, for the Cuban 
bush tells no tales." 

The colonel wondered at the paleness upon the face of the young officer 
as he passed from the tent into the darkness beyond. Could he be afraid ? 
He dismissed the thought with a laugh. Captain Burden had come to the 
— th with the highest recommendations from the Secretary of War. 

Out beyond the shelter of the camp, Burden led his men straight into 
the thick, prickly brush. At times he could almost feel Hardey's breath 
upon his face and hear the voice whispering in his ear : " To the left, to 
the left ! he will reach the Spaniards sooner there." 

Far up the height a dozen tiny lights glimmered in the darkness — the 
Spanish torches about the blockhouse of El Caney. To the left the faint 
ring of steel told the three Americans that the enemy's sentinels were wide 
awake, ready to fire blindly into the darkness. Captain Burden paused. 

" Private Hardey," said he, so huskily he scarcely recognized his own 
voice, u move cautiously to the left, keeping well in the shadow of the 
brush ; the corporal and I will detour to the right approaching the slope 
further on." 

Hardey's hand came to a quick salute. "Very good, sir," replied he, 
steadily, though he must have known he ran against the very muzzles of 
Spanish rifles. Then, wheeling about, he disappeared in 
Running Upon the tangled thicket. 

the Muzzles of Captain Burden paused irresolutely, white to the very 

Pointed Rifles. Hp S . "Come ! " said he, sharply, u to the right, corporal." 

A myriad of insects buzzed about their faces, the 
pests of the Cuban chaparral. The corporal cursed and brushed them off, 
but his companion scarce noticed them ; his ears were strained to catch the 
shots from the slope of El Caney, the fusillade which would send him back 
to Washington. 

A minute passed — five — ten ; it seemed as many hours. The heat and 
blackness of the brush stifled the Americans, the sharp thorns tore their 
clothes and lacerated their bodies. Corporal Joyce swore and cursed the 
fate which had sent him to Cuba. Captain Burden moved forward as one 
bereft of feeling. He had become a machine, a thing devoid of sense and 
feeling, a human sounding-board waiting to catch a rifle crack from El 
Caney* 



JUST BEFORE THE BATTLE OF EL CANEY. 



77 



Suddenly the buzz of insects, the crunching of the dry leaves and twigs 
under the feet of the moving men, the noise made by the passage of their 
bodies through the bush, were drowned by the echoing report of a Mauser 
rifle ; then another, a third and fourth and fifth. Corporal Joyce uncon- 
sciously clutched his officer's arm. " God !" he whispered, " they've riddled 
him, an' a braver fellow never wore a sabre." 

Captain Burden staggered as though the bullets from the Mausers had 
pierced his body. A cry sounded in the stillness following the echo of the 
shots ; an appeal for help, and the voice was Hardey's. 

For an instant Burden wavered ; then, before the corporal could restrain 
him, dashed through the matted chaparral to the slope of El Caney, upon 
whose summit danced a hundred Spanish torches awakened into life by the 
fire of the sentinels. 

.With Joyce panting at his heels, he pushed forward, drawing his revolver 
as he ran and shouting aloud to Hardey to answer him, that he might gain 
the private's side in the darkness. 

Breaking through the bush, he came upon an open space unsheltered 
* from the Spanish guns above, to stumble over Hardey, who, resting on one 
elbow, was keeping off five wUte-clothed figures with his revolver. 

Perhaps the Spaniards feared an attack from the entire American army. 
At sight of Burden and the corporal they wavered, forgetting the Mausers 
in their hands, that they were five to three, with one of the latter sorely 
crippled. 

" Corporal !" said Burden, sharply, noting with quick perception the 
confusion of the Spaniards, " to the rear with Private 
Hardey ; I will cover you " Saving the Life of 

A flash of admiration filled the corporal's eyes. " God, His Rival, 
sir !" he muttered ; they'll shoot you like a dog ; I — " 

"To the rear, sir!" shouted Captain Burden ; "he's light and — " 

Then, as the bulky corporal lifted the wounded cavalryman, slinging 
him across his shoulder like a bag of meal, Burden faced the astonished 
Spaniards. " No," cried Hardey, struggling in the arms which would bear 
him into safety ; " stop, for God's sake, corporal !" Then, in an appeal of 
agony : u Save yourself, Burden ; she will not marry me, it's you — " 

The sharp crack of the captain's revolver cut short the sentence. 
" Run !" he shouted ; " I'll hold them off." 

Four times the revolver cracked ere the Spaniards, realizing 'twas but 
one man who confronted them, raised their rifles. 

Corporal Joyce, tearing through the chaparrel, heard the whiplike crack 
of the dreaded Mausers j then once more the sharp report of the captain's 



78 / THE HEROIC CHARGE ON SAN JUAN. 



revolver. Afterward came silence, save for the groaning of Private Hardey 
and the rustle of the parting branches. 

On the morning of July 3, after the charge upon El Caney, an orderly 
halted before the quarters of the fighting — th. 

"A letter for Captain Burden," replied he to the sentry's query, 
" franked at the War Department, an' from a. lady. I reckon he won't'want 
to wait for it." The colonel pushed aside his tent flap. " Surgeon," said 
he, turning to the officer who followed him, u tell that fellow Captain 
Burden's dead — killed in an ambuscade. And, surgeon, you'd better take 
the letter and forward it to Washington." 



THE HEROIC CHARGE ON SAN JUAR 

By 




ON the afternoon of June 30, pursuant to orders given me verbally by 
the corps commander at his headquarters, I moved my Second and 
Third Brigades (Parson and Wikoff ) forward about two miles to a 
point on the Santiago road near corps headquarters. Here the 
troops bivouacked, the First Brigade (Hawkins) remaining in its camp of 
the two preceding days, slightly in rear of corps headquarters. 

On the following morning (July 1) at seven o'clock I rode forward to the 
hill where Captain Grimes' battery was in position. I here met L,ieutenant- 
Colonel McClernand, assistant adjutant-general, Fifth Corps, who pointed 
out to me a green hill in the distance, which was to be my objective on my 
left, and either he or Lieutenant Miley, of Major-General Shafter's staff, 
gave me directions to keep my tight on the main road leading to the city 
of Santiago. I had previously given the necessary orders for Hawkins' 
brigade to move early, to be followed in turn by Wikoff and Parson. Shortly 
after Grimes' battery opened fire I rode down to the stream and there found 
General Hawkins at the head of his brigade at a point about 250 yards from 
the El Paso sugar house. Here I gave him his orders. 

The enemy's artillery was now replying to Grimes' battery. I rode 
forward with Hawkins about 150 yards, closely followed by the Sixth 
Infantry, which was leading the First Brigade. At this 
the' Cava?" P i n t * received instructions. to allow the cavalry the right 
of way, but for some unknown reason they moved up very 
slowly, thus causing a delay, in my advance, of fully forty minutes. 



THK HEROIC CHARGE ON SAN JUAN. 



79 



Lieutenant Miley, of General Shafter's staff, was at this point and 
understood how the division was delayed, and repeated several times that he 
understood I was making all the progress possible. General Hawkins went 
forward, and word came back in a few minutes that it would be possible to 
observe the enemy's position from the front. I immediately rode forward 
with my staff. The fire of the enemy's sharpshooters was very distinctly 
felt at this time. I crossed the main ford of the San Juan River, joined 
General Hawkins, and with him observed the enemy's position from a point 
some distance in advance of the ford. General Hawkins deemed it possible 
to turn the enemy's right at Fort San Juan, but later, under the heavy fire, 
this was found impracticable for the First Brigade, but was accomplished by 
the Third Brigade coming up later on General Hawkins' left. 

Having completed the observation with my staff, I proceeded to join 
the, head of my division just coming under heavy fire. Approaching the 
First Brigade I directed them to move alongside the cavalry (which was 
halted). We were already suffering losses caused by the balloon, near-by, 
attiacting the enemy's fire and disclosing our position. The Spanish infantry 
fire, steadily increasing in intensity, now came from all directions, not only 
from the front, and the dense tropical thickets on our flanks, but from sharp- 
shooters thickly posted in trees in our rear, and from shrapnel apparently 
aimed at the balloon. Lieutentant Colonel Derby, of Shafter's staff, met me 
about this time and informed me that a trail or narrow way had been 
discovered from the balloon a short distance back leading to the left of a 
ford lower down the stream. I hastened to the forks made by this road and 
soon after the Seventy-first New York Regiment, of Hawkins' brigade, came 
up. I turned them into the by-path indicated by Lieutenant-Colonel Derby, 
which led to the lower ford, sending word to General Hawkins of this move- 
ment. This would have speedily delivered them in their proper place on the 
left of their brigade, but under the galling fire of the enemy, the leading 
battalion of this regiment was thrown into confusion and 
recoiled in disorder on the troops in rear. At this critical ^epu^se^^* 
moment the officers of my staff practically formed a cordon 
behind the panic-stricken men and urged them to again go forward. I 
finally ordered them to lie down in the thicket and clear the way for others 
of their own regiment, who were coming up behind. This many of them 
did, and the second and third battalions came forward in better order and 
moved along the road toward the ford. 

One of my staff officers ran back, waving his hat to hurry forward the 
Third Brigade, which upon approaching the forks found the way blocked by 
men of *the Seventy-first New York. There were other men of this regiment 



8o 



THE HEROIC CHARGE ON SAN JUAN. 



crouching in the bushes, many of whom were encouraged by the advance of 
the approaching column to arise and go forward. As already stated, I had 
received orders some time before to keep in rear of the cavalry division. 
Their advance was much delayed, resulting in frequent halts, presumably to 
drop their blanket rolls and due to the natural delay in fording a stream. 
These delays under such a hot fire grew exceedingly irksome, and I therefore 
pushed the head of my division as quickly as I could toward the river in 
column, or files of twos, paralleled in the narrow way by the cavalry. This 
quickened the forward movement and enabled me to get into position as 
speedily as possible for the attack. 

Owing to the congested condition of the road, the progress of the narrow 
column was painfully slow. To quicken the advance I sent a staff officer at a 
gallop to urge forward the troops in the rear. The head of 
Slow Progress on wikoff > s brigade reached the forks at 12.20 p. m., and 

a Narrow Path. & r ' 

hurried on the left, stepping over prostrate forms of men 

of the Seventy-first. This heroic brigade (consisting of the Thirteenth, 
Ninth and Twenty-fourth United States Infantry) speedily crossed the stream 
and were quickly deployed to the left of the lower ford. 

While personally superintending this movement, Colonel WikofF was 
killed, the command of the brigade then devolving upon lieutenant-Colonel 
Worth, Thirteenth Infantry, who immediately fell severely wounded, and 
then upon Lieutenant-Colonel L,iscum, Twenty-fourth Infantry, who five 
minutes later also fell under the withering fire of the enemy. The command 
of the brigade then devolved upon Lieutenant-Colonel E. P. Ewers, Ninth 
Cavalry. 

Meanwhile, I had again sent a staff officer to hurry forward the Second 
Brigade, which was bringing up the rear. The Tenth and Second Infantry, 
soon arriving at the forks, were deflected to the left to follow the Third 
Brigade, while the Twenty-first was directed along the main road to support 
Hawkins. Crossing the lower fork a few minutes later, the Tenth and Second 
moved forward in column in good order toward the green knoll already 
referred to as my objective on the left. Approaching the knoll the regiments 
deployed, passed over the knoll and ascended the high ridge beyond, driving 
back the enemy in the direction of his trenches. I observed this movement 
from the fort on San Juan Hill. 

Colonel E. P. Pearson, Tenth Infantry, commanding the Second Brigade, 
and the officers and troops under his command deserve great credit for the 
soldierly manner in which this movement was executed. 

Prior to this advance of the Second Brigade, the Third, connecting with 
Hawkins' gallant troops on the right, had moved toward Fort San Juan, 



THE HEROIC CHARGE ON SAN JUAN. 



81 



sweeping through a zone of most destructive fire, scaling a steep and difficult 
hill and assisting in capturing the enemy's strong position, Fort San Juan, 
at 1.30 p. m. This crest was about 125 feet above the general level and was 
defended by deep trenches and a loop-holed brick fort, surrounded by barbed 
wire entanglements. 

General Hawkins, some time after I reached the crest, reported that the 
Sixth and Sixteenth Infantry had captured the hill, which I now consider 
incorrect, and credit is almost equally due the Sixth, Ninth, Thirteenth, 
Sixteenth and Twenty-fourth Regiments of infantry. Owing to General 
Hawkins' representations I forwarded the report sent to corps headquarters 
about 3 p. m. that the Sixth and Sixteenth Infantry regiments had captured 
the hill. 

The Thirteenth Infantry captured the enemy's colors waving over the 
fort, , but unfortunately destroyed them, distributing the fragments among 
the men, because, as was asserted, " it was a bad omen," 
two or three men having been shot while assisting Private T j/^^pteces^ 8 
Arthur Agnew, Company K, Thirteenth Infantry, the 
captor. All fragments which could be recovered were sent to Washington 
for preservation. 

The greatest credit is due to the officers of my command, whether 
company, battalion, regiment or brigade commanders, who so admirably 
directed the formation of their troops, unavoidably intermixed in the dense 
thicket, and made the desperate rush for the distant and strongly defended 
crest. 

I have already mentioned the circumstances of my Third Brigade's 
advance across the ford, where in the brief space of ten minutes it lost its 
brave commander (killed) and the next two ranking officers by disabling 
wounds. Yet, in spite of these confusing conditions, the formations were 
effected without hesitation, although under a stinging fire, companies acting 
singly in some circumstances and by battalion and regiments in others, 
rushing through the jungle, across the stream waist deep, and over the wide 
bottom thickly set with barbed wire obstructions. 

In this connection I desire to particularly mention First Lieutenant 
Wendell L. Simpson, adjutant, Ninth Infantry, acting assistant adjutant 
general, Third Brigade, who was noticeably active and efficient in carrying 
out orders which I had given him to his brigade commander, who had been 
killed. 

The enemy having retired to a second line of rifle pits, I directed my 
line to hold their positions and intrenchments. At ten minutes past 3 p. m.„ 
I received, almost simultaneously, two requests, one from Colonel Wood, 
6 



62 



HOW HAM. FISH MKT HIS DEATH. 



commanding a cavalry brigade, and one from General Sumner, asking for 
assistance for the cavalry on my right, as they were being hard pressed. I im- 
mediately sent to their aid the Thirteenth Infantry, who promptly went on 
this further mission, despite the heavy losses they had already sustained. 

Great credit is due to the gallant officer and gentleman, Brigadier- 
General H. S. Hawkins, who, placing himself between the two regiments, 
leading his brigade, the Sixth and Sixteenth Infantry, urged and led them 
by voice and bugle call to the attack so successfully accomplished. 



HOW HAM. FISH MET HIS DEATH. 

By the "World" Correspondent. 

THIS is the narrative of Edward Culver, Rough Rider, wounded at 
La Quasima, Santiago, by the same bullet that killed Hamilton 
Fish. When I met him first in New York Harbor on the hospital 
ship " Olivette," just after his return from Cuba, he didn't look 
much like a soldier. He had no hat. He had one when he went to Cuba, 
but he had thrown it away on the march from Altares to Siboney. He had 
no boots. The surgeons had cut them off on the battlefield as he lay 
wounded beside " Ham." Fish. His only clothing was a blue flannel shirt 
and a pair of duck trousers, which had been brown, but they were faded 
now, and from the knees down they were darker than they had ever been. 
" My blood made them that way," he said in explanation. 
There were no buttons on the blue shirt. It hung open ; a bandaged 
wound was visible just above his heart. A bullet had entered there. It was 
the bullet that had killed " Ham." Fish on its way to Culver's breast. 

He is only a boy, this trooper from the West — twenty-two years of age. 
He lives at Muskogee, Indian Territory, and he grew up out there on the 
cattle ranges of his native place. When Theodore Roosevelt organized his 
Rough Riders he enlisted in Troop L. Shortly afterward he became the firm 
friend of " Ham." Fish. Here in his own words is the story of that friend- 
ship, of Fish's life in the field and of his death in battle : 



HOW HAM. FISH MET HIS DEATH. 



«5 



The first time I saw Sergeant Fish was at San Antone, Tex. That was 
on the nineteenth day of May. You see, we all of us had heerd of him before 
and we just all nat'rally wanted him in our troop. Yes, 
sir, we was all anxious for him. And he just took a ThC 0wn^ o ^y der S 
mighty likin' to our troop, too. He seemed to want to be 
with our boys. You see, Cap'n Capron he was a military man, and Fish 
just said he wanted a military man to lead him. 

So at Tampa he was transferred to our troop. That was the night 
before we got on the transport for Cuba. And that same night he was 
made sergeant of our squad. He was a great friend of all of our squad, 
and we all allowed he was all right. You see, we all in our squad grew up 
together from boys around Muskogee, Indian Territory, and on the cattle 
ranges we just nat'rally judge a man by his looks. So we just all of us 
allowed the sergeant of the third squad was all right, and he was mighty 
proud of his squad. The night he was made our sergeant he shook each one 
of us by the hand and he says, " Boys, we eleven must always stand 
together, no matter what comes." And we all of us allowed we would. 

When we was goin' to Cuba he found out where I was from, and he just 
got to be a particular friend of mine. He always allowed he wanted to go 
to Indian Territory, so he says, " I'll go after we come home again, and we 
all will have some good fun on the ranges." 

We were on the a Yucatan " and we landed at Altares on the twenty- 
second of June about three o'clock in the afternoon. Our squad landed in a 
skiff. The surf was runnin' pretty high too. You see, he had charge of the 
rations, so he just says to me, " You watch the rations and don't let 'em get 
wet and I'll row." So he takes an oar from one of the men and rowed in 
through the surf. Then when we landed we all put up our tents and that 
night we all had a good time around the camp-fire. We was all glad to get 
to Cuba, and it sorter seemed nat'ral to be on land again. We all went to 
bed early that night and we slept well. The next day was the twenty-third. 
That was the day before our squad went into the fight. That was the day 
before Sergeant Fish was killed. We all in our squad were lonesome that 
day, 'specially at night around the camp-fire. I always made his coffee and 
fried his meat in with mine. Each man had to fry his own meat, but, you 
see, my pan was big and it held enough for two of us. He give me charge 
of the rations a few days after he became our sergeant, 
and as I liked him I was bound to cook his rations. We Forebodings 
didn't go to bed till tol'ably late that night. It rained hard. 
The boys they all wrapped up in their ponchos and lay down. But, let alone 
the rain, the snakes and lizards and land crabs wouldn't let them sleep. 



8 4 



HOW HAM. FISH MKT HIS DEATH. 



The land crabs just naturally eat them up. I says to the sergeant, " It won't 
do to let the rations get spoiled." So we covered them up with our ponchos 
and stood under a tree. But a tree don't help any in that kind of rain, and 
we just got soaked right smart. When the rain was just washin' us like a 
waterfall, Sergeant Fish he turns around to me and he allowed, " Old boy, 
this is soldierin' " — kind of intimating you know, it was rough. 

Then after the rain stopped we built up a big fire to dry by. Presently 
Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt and Cap'n Capron came along, and they was 
complimentin' us about the march and talkiu' about the Spaniards. They 
was fine men, them two, Colonel Roosevelt and Cap'n Capron, and the 
boys all liked them. 

" Then after they left, Sergeant Fish, he turned to me and he says, 
4 Old boy, is your father and mother living? ' And I allowed they was, out 
in Indian Territory, and a sister and two brothers, leastwise if the brothers 
hadn't enlisted since I left. And he says, ' Old boy, I suppose the people at 
home are thinkin' about us now.' 

" That night Fred Beal stood guard. We had first call at half past 
three, reveille at four, and mess call at a quarter after four. At twenty 
minutes to five we got our orders to march. At breakfast 
^Deatb"* I says to Sergeant Fish, ' I believe I'll fry some of this 
hardtack.' You see, we got powerful tired of our rations, 
so I just fried the hardtack that morning and it was a change. Some of 
the boys in the squad asked for more tomatoes. So Sergeant he turned to 
me and he says, ' How many tomatoes have we ? ' And I allowed we had 
sev'ral cans. ' Well,' he says, ' we'll cut some more open. We're liable to 
all be killed to-day and we may as well have enough to eat.' 

" Sergeant Fish said that morning sev'ral times he was goin' to get 
killed that day. He was carryin' an extra pair of shoes along. He allowed 
they cost him $7. He threw them away just after breakfast. 

" ' Sergeant,' I says, '*they may come in handy.' 

" 4 No, he says, ' I don't think I'll need them any more' — kind of sad 
like. He also give away his loose clothes that morning. ♦ 

" Before the march Cap'n Capron ordered me in the advance guard. 
You see, six of us and Cap'n Capron went ahead of the Rough Riders 200 
yards as scouts. Tom Isbell, another Cherokee Indian, of our regiment, was 
ahead. Cap'n Capron came next right in the middle of the road. I came 
next on the left flank in the bushes. Bud Purnell was on the right flank. 
Then came Wyly Skelton. Tom Meagher and Sergeant Burns (formerly a 
New York policeman), each about thirty feet apart. We was marching 
along a common country road. There was thick bush on each side, and we 



HOW HAM. FISH MET HIS DEATH. 



85 



was looking for Spaniards all the time and had our guns ready. When we 
had marched three miles we knew the Spaniards was near. 

" Presently we came to a dead Spaniard on the road. He was just 
lyin' there covered with dust. Just then Tom Isbell he see a Spaniard and 
he picked him. Then they opened fire from all around us 
and from each side of us. Tom Isbell he was hit seven Spa niard C Then 
times before he fell. He was tough. Cap'n Capron he 
was shot and fell soon as the firm' opened. 

" Soon as the shindig began I dropped down on the road plumb 
across it and began firin'. Presently Sergeant Fish he rushed up. He 
says, ' Old boy, you've got a good place here.' I says, ' I have got a 
good place.' 

" You see, my head was by the edge of the road and my body plumb 
across it. The bank was about four inches high, so I just naturally felt it 
wasn't such a good place. So Sergeant Fish he just drops down on the left 
beside me and began shootin'. He was about afoot from me. We was lyin' 
plumb across the middle of the road. The sun was just bilin' down on us. 
The Spaniards was pepperin' us from each side. 

" The Sergeant he just fired two shots when he gasped and says to me, 
' Old boy, I'm wounded ; I'm badly wounded.' 

"I says, 'I'm killed.' 

« He says, < The same bullet hit both of us.' B ° th Hit „ b y ( thc 

. . . Same Bullet. 

"Then he lifted himself kind of hard like on his 

left elbow and says,'' Give me your canteen, old boy.' 

" I give it to him. Then I guess I fainted. When I come to he says, 
* You're all right, old boy.' He was smilin'. " Then he kind of drew up 
his shoulders. 

" I says to him, 1 Sergeant, are you hit hard ? ' But he didn't say noth- 
ing He kind of smiled. Then I took his hat off and see he was dead. 

" Meagher came along then, and he says to me, ' Is he dead ? ' and I says, 
4 Yes.' Then Kline came up to us, and Meagher says to him, ' We'll stay 
with him till he's dead ' — meanin' me. Kline give me a drink of water. 

" Lieutenant Thomas he passed, too, when Sergeant was wounded, and 
Sergeant he says to him, 'I'm wounded.' But Lieutenant Thomas he had 
to go to the front to take Cap'n Capron's place. Cap'n Capron he was lyin' 
wounded on the road just a few yards from us. 

" I lay there as much as an hour beside Sergeant Fish after he was 
dead. The bullet had entered his left side, came out at the right and hit 
me in the left breast just above the heart. It was just as Sergeant said. 
The same bullet hit us both. You see we hear its ping, and when it went 



86 INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE FILIPINOS. 



through Sergeant, it just had to hit me. We was right together thar — right 
on the same line when we was hit. 

" Then Meagher he lifted me in the shade, and presently Dr. Churcl. 
dressed my wound. 

"It's tough, aint it, that a pard like Sergeant Fish, a man you could 
tie to, one who would stand by his friends through hardships and dangers, 
a fellow every one loved, and who was my best mate, should be shot to death 
by my side ! I saw him die. His splendid nerve never deserted him, for his 
last breath was that of a brave soldier. The world has been pretty lonesome 
to me since he said good bye and passed in his checks, and I guess I'll never 
get over the feeling of a lump in my throat every time I think of him. 
But its war.' 



INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE PHILIPPINE 

PEOPLE. 

By Captain P. C. March, 

{Late Commander of the Astor Battery \ at Manila.} 

AGUINALDO is a little fellow even for Manila. He is hardly five feet 
tall, and his features are Japanese rather than Filipino. His fore- 
^ head is retreating, his coarse black hair is brushed up from it, 
pompadour style. He has no magnetism, his manner is not im- 
pressive ; he is in appearance anything but a leader of men. 

He owes his influence to two facts : The more ignorant among his fol- 
lowers firmly believe that he is invulnerable, that a bullet fired at him would 
be deflected. Some of the educated leaders are faithful to him for another 
reason. He has sold out to the Spaniards a number of times, and has had 
the tact to divide his winnings with other leaders. They find it pays to side 
with him. 

The uneducated natives are superstitious, but they would learn quickly. 
A good many have been educated by the church schools, and they prove 
bright and intelligent. There are a few Negritos even about Manila, but 
not many in proportion to the total number in the islands. They are little 
black men, not so fine a type as either the Tagali or Viscayans. And down 



INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE FILIPINOS. 



87 



upon Minanao, which has never been conquered in all the three hundied 
years of Spain's nominal rule in the archipelago, are still another type — the 
unsubdued Moros, who blacken their teeth and wear false horns upon their 
heads. 

There are many opportunities in the Philippines for capitalists and pro- 
fessional men. The Spaniards are naturally more numerous in the islands 
than other Europeans, but they amount to little commer- 
cially. Most of them are or have been officials. The Chances for Busi- 
-_v i« 1 - j~ . . . -1 ^ ness in Our New 

English and Germans do most of the trade. There are islands. 

also many wealthy Chinese and well-to-do half-breeds — 
mestizos. The hemp plantations are nearly all owned and administered 
by Englishmen. The natives have no taste for settled industry. They will 
work and earn ten cents, and live in idleness a week or so until the money 
is spent. The Tagali are a docile, agreeable race, quick, easily taught and 
easily managed. Of course, however, there is a great mixture of national 
types. For instance, my cook was a Viscayan from Iloilo. The features 
of these people differ from those of the Tagali. They are more nearly of the 
negro type, and fine, muscular fellows physically. All the natives are 
strong, wiry men, though small. They can carry bamboo poles around on 
their shoulders that would make one of our big fellows stagger. They 
are deft and skillful, too ; they do all the fine work in Manila, making 
jewelry and compounding prescriptions, for instance, as well as the heavier 
tasks. * 

The average American soldier in Manila is above five feet seven inches 
in height, and the little natives, who will hardly average five feet two 
inches, were amazed at the big fellows. 

Manila is not like any town in the United States with which it might 
be compared. It is larger than Buffalo, Cincinnati or San Francisco by the 
last census, and more than twice as large as Rochester. 
Its 300,000 people straggle over some five or six miles Mam,a Itself is 

r r a Big City of 

along the water front. The European houses are not Huts. 

gathered in one quarter, as is usual in Asiatic cities, but 
are scattered about among the native huts. These huts on the outskirts of 
Manila itself are precisely like huts away in the interior of the islands. 
There isn't a nail in one of them. The walls are bamboo poles tied together, 
the roof a thatch of leaves ; the furniture is of the simplest sort. The houses 
occupied by Europeans are larger and better furnished, but are almost never 
of masonry because of the danger from earthquake. They are lightly con- 
structed of wood, without cellars. You drive your carriage in upon the 
ground floor, and mount by inner stairs to the living rooms on the first floor. 





88 



INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THE FILIPINOS. 



When the American soldiers first arrived in Manila the city was abso- 
lutely without sanitation, and the habits of the people were frank and 
unsophisticated. Arrests had to be made for unconventionalities not com- 
mon upon American streets ; but the natives were generally docile and 
indisposed to trouble. 

In one respect Manila is fortunate. It has an abundant supply of pure 
water, and the hydrants are surrounded all day long by people washing 
themselves. To see a stark-naked pickaninny shuddering under the cool 
flood while his mother plies the pump, gives one a good idea of tropical 
cleanliness. The native women are everywhere, their wooden sandals clat- 
tering on the pavement, bareheaded, a shawl thrown over one shoulder. The 
pump is a good beginning of cleanliness. We are supplying the rest. 
Major Bourns, who has studied the botany and geology of the islands, was 
placed in charge of the work. The city is districted, and a doctor and nurse 
assigned to each district, to hunt out contagious diseases. The garbage and 
street-litter are collected — they never were before — loaded on cascoes and 
dumped out at sea. These cascoes are square-built, shovel-nosed sailboats, 
somewhat like a lugger, decked over at stem and stern. The open waist is 
covered with sections of matting, shaped like the hood of a charcoal wagon, 
which slide over each other. The family live in the stern, 

The Native Boats, and usua u y a dozen or so children tumble about the deck. 
Canoes, "Cas- J 

coes." The other common type of native boat is a dug-out canoe, 

sometimes quite large, balanced by an outrigger on each 

side. These boats, little and big, are almost the sole conveyances used by 

the people, as there are no roads, and the interior of the larger islands is 

presumably sparsely peopled. I think the number of the population is 

generally much over-estimated. No census was ever taken by the Spaniards, 

and the natives naturally speak of their tribes in round numbers. A correct 

census will be one of our first duties in the islands. 

When we reached Manila it was very hot and wet. When we came 
away in December it was delightful, and there was a band concert every 
afternoon on the prada, where less than a year ago the most exciting diver- 
sion was a public execution, witnessed by gayly dressed ladies in carriages 
taking snap-shots with kodaks of the poor wretches standing blindfolded 
against a blank wall. 

The natives are called cruel, but what they do, and what they know, 
they have learned from Spain. They have had no means of raising money 
for their alleged republic save by levying tithes on industry. If a mill- 
owner was assessed $15, and said he had but $7, they would string him up 
by the thumbs. We would sometimes hear some such poor devil screaming 
t 



THE HISTORIC ENGAGEMENT IN MANILA BAY. 89 



in a barn, and go out and rescue him. But that is the way things are done 
in the East. These men are practicing what they have learned ; they are 
willing to learn new lessons and are easy to teach. 

I have never seen a drunken Filipino. They are a very quick and 
intelligent race, and capable of rapid improvement, and being tractable and 
amenable to good influences, they may soon be made a really desirable 
acquisition to the American brotherhood, which has already absorbed and 
assimilated many nationalities. 



THE NOW FOREVER HISTORIC ENGAGEMENT IN 

MANILA BAY. 



By Rear-Admiral 




{Commander-in-Chief of the Squadron) . 



THE squadron left Mirs Bay on April 27, arrived off Bolinao on the 
morning of April 30, and, finding no vessels there, proceeded down 
the coast and arrived off the entrance to Manila Bay on the same 
afternoon. The " Boston " and the " Concord " were sent to recon- 
noitre Port Subig. A thorough search was made of the port by the " Boston " 
and the " Concord," but the Spanish fleet was not found. Entered the south 
channel at 11.30 p. m., steaming in columns at eight knots. After half the 
squadron had passed, a battery on the south side of the channel opened fire, 
none of the shots taking effect. The " Boston " and " McCulloch " returned 
the fire. The squadron proceeded across the bay at slow speed and arrived 
off Manila at daybreak, and was fired upon at 5.15 a. m. by three batteries 
at Manila and two near Cavite, and by the Spanish fleet anchored in an 



90 



THE HISTORIC ENGAGEMENT IN MANILA BAY. 



approximately east and west line across the mouth of Bakor Bay, with their 
left in shoal water in Canacao Bay. 

The squadron then proceeded to the attack, the flagship " Olympia," 
under my personal direction, leading, followed at a distance by the " Balti- 
more," " Raleigh," " Petrel," " Concord " and " Boston " in the order named, 
which formation was maintained throughout the action. The squadron 
opened fire at 5.41 a. m. While advancing to the attack two 

EXP, °M-mes f mineS were ex P loded ahead of the flagship, but too far to 
be effective. The squadron maintained a continuous and 
precise fire at ranges varying from 5,000 to 2,000 yards, counter-marching in 
a line approximately parallel to that of the Spanish fleet. The enemy's fire 
was vigorous, but generally harmless. Early in the engagement two 
launches put out toward the " Olympia " with the apparent intention of 
using torpedoes. One was sunk and the other disabled by our fire and 
beached before they were able to discharge their torpedoes. 

At 7 a. m. the Spanish flagship, " Reina Cristina," made a desperate 
attempt to leave the line and come out to engage at short range, but was 
received with such a galling fire, the entire battery of the " Olympia " being 
concentrated upon her, that she was barely able to return to the shelter of the 
point. The fires started in her by our shell at the time were not extinguished 
until she sank. The three batteries at Manila had kept up a continuous 
fire from the beginning of the engagement, which was not however returned 
by my squadron. The first of these batteries was situated on the south 
mole head at the entrance of the Pasig River, the second on the south 
position of the walled city of Manila, and the third at Malate, about one- 
half mile further south. At this point I sent a message to the governor- 
general to the effect that if the batteries did not cease firing the city would 
be shelled. This had the effect of silencing them. 

At 7.35 a. m. I ordered the firing to cease and withdrew the squadron 
for breakfast At 11. 16 I returned to the attack. By this time the Spanish 
flagship and almost all the Spanish fleet were in flames. 
fa^Dewcy^s^uns" ^ I2, 3° S( l uadron ceased firing, the batteries being 
silenced and the Spanish ships sunk, burned and deserted. 
At 12.40 the squadron returned and anchored off Manila, the " Petrel " 
being left to complete the destruction of the smaller gunboats, which were 
behind the point of Cavite. This duty was performed by Commander 
E. P. Wood, in the most expeditious and complete manner possible. The 
Spanish lost the following- vessels : Sunk, " Reina Cristina," " Castilla," 
" Don Antonio de Ulloa "; burned, " Don Juan of Austria," " Isla de Luzon," 
"Isia de Cuba," "General Eezo," "Marquis del Duero," "El Correo," 



THE HISTORIC ENGAGEMENT IN MANILA BAY. 9 i 

" Velasco," and " Isla de Mindanao " (transport) ; captured, " Rapido " and 
" Hercules " (tugs), and several small launches. 

The losses of the enemy were very heavy. The " Reina Cristina " alone 
had 150 killed, including the captain, and ninety wounded. I am happy to 
report that the damage done to the squadron under my command was incon- 
siderable. There were none killed and only seven men in the squadron 
were slightly wounded. Several of the vessels were struck and even pene- 
trated, but the damage was of the slightest and the squadron was in as good 
condition after as before the battle. 

I doubt if any commander-in-chief was ever served by more loyal, 
efficient and gallant captains than those of the squadron now under my 
command. Captain Frank Wildes, commanding the " Boston," volunteered 
to remain in command of his vessel, although his relief arrived before leav- 
ing Hong Kong. Assistant Surgeon Kindelberger, of the " Olympia," and 
Gunner J. C. Evans, of the " Boston," also volunteered to remain after orders 
detaching them had arrived. The conduct of my personal staff was excellent. 
Commander B. P. Lamberton, chief of staff, was a volunteer for that position, 
and gave me most efficient aid. Lieutenant Brumby, flag lieutenant, and 
Ensign E. P. Scott, aide, performed their duties as signal officers in a highly 
creditable manner. Caldwell, flag secretary, volunteered for and was 
assigned to a sub-division of the 5-inch battery. Mr. J. L. Stickney, formerly 
an officer in the United States Navy, and now correspondent for the New 
York Herald, volunteered for duty as my aide, and rendered valuable service. 
I desire especially to mention the coolness of Lieutenant C. G. Calkins, the 
navigator of the " Olympia," who came under my personal observation, being 
on the bridge with me throughout the entire action, and giving the ranges 
to the guns with an accuracy that was proved by the excellence of the 
marksmanship. 

On May 2, the day following the engagement, the squadron again went 
to Cavite, where it remained for several days. On the third the military 
forces evacuated the Cavite arsenal, which was taken possession of by a 
landing party. On the same day the " Raleigh " and " Baltimore " secured 
the surrender of the batteries on Corregidor Island, paroling the garrison 
and destroying the guns. On the morning of May 4 the transport " Manila," 
which has been aground in Bakor Bay, was towed off and made a prize. 



92 THE STORY OF MANILA'S FALL. 



THE STORY OF MANILA'S FALL 

By 



V 

UPON my arrival at Manila, July 29 (1898), I found General Greene's 
command encamped on a strip of sandy land, running parallel to 
the shore of the bay, and not far distant from the beach, owing 
to the great difficulties of landing supplies, the greater portion of 
the force had shelter-tents only and were suffering many discomforts, the 
camp being situated in a low, flat place, without shelter from the heat of the 
tropical sun or adequate protection during the terrific downpours of rain so 
frequent at this season. 

The Filipinos, or insurgent forces at war with Spain had, prior to the 
arrival of the American land forces, been waging a desultory warfare with 
the Spaniards for several months, and were at the time of my arrival in con- 
siderable force, variously estimated and never accurately ascertained, but 
probably not far from 12,000 men. These troops, well supplied with small 
arms, with plenty of ammunition and several field guns, had obtained posi- 
tions of investment opposite to the Spanish line of detached works through- 
out their entire extent. 

As General Aguinaldo did not visit me on my arrival 
No Favors nor Q ff er services as a subordinate military leader, and 

from Aguinaldo's . . . * 

Achievements. as m y instructions from the President fully contemplated 
the occupation of the islands by the American land forces, 
and stated that the powers of the military occupant are absolute and supreme, 
and immediately operative upon the political condition of the inhabitants, 
I did not consider it wise to hold any direct communication with the 
insurgent leader until I should be in possession of the city of Manila, espe- 
cially as I would not until then be in a position to issue a proclamation and 
enforce my authority, in the event that his pretensions should clash with my 
designs. 

For these reasons the preparations for the attack on the city were 
pressed and military operations conducted without reference to the situation 



THE STORY OF MANILA'S FAIX. 



93 



of the insurgent forces. The wisdom of this course was subsequently fully 
established by the fact that when the troops of my command carried the 
Spanish entrenchments, extending from the sea to the Pasig Road on the 
extreme Spanish right, we were under no obligations, by prearranged plans 
of mutual attack, to turn to the right and clear the front still held against 
the insurgents, but were able to move forward at once and occupy the city 
and suburbs. 

To return to the situation of General Greene's brigade as I found it on 
my arrival, it will be seen that the difficulty in gaining an avenue of ap- 
proach to the Spanish line lay in the fact of my disinclination to ask Gen- 
eral Aguinaldo to withdraw from the beach and the u Calle Real," so that 
Greene could move forward. This was overcome by instructions to General 
Greene to arrange, if possible, with the insurgent brigade commander in his 
immediate vicinity to move to the right and allow the American forces 
unobstructed control of the roads in the immediate front. No objection was 
made, and accordingly General Greene's brigade threw forward a heavy out- 
post line on the " Calle Real " and the beach, and constructed a trench, in 
which a portion of the guns of the " Utah " batteries was placed. 

The Spanish, observing this activity on our part, made a very sharp 

attack with infantry and artillery on the night of July 31. The behavior 

of our troops during this night attack was all that could 

be desired, and I have in cablegrams to the War Depart- 

' s r Tenth Penn- 

ment, taken occasion to commend Dy name those who sylvania. 

deserve special mention for good conduct in the affair. 

Our position was extended and strengthened after this, and resisted 
successfully repeated night attacks, our forces suffering, however, considera- 
ble loss in wounded and killed, while the losses of the enemy, owing to the 
darkness, could not be ascertained. 

The strain of the night fighting, and the heavy details for outpost duty, 
made it imperative to reinforce General Greene's troops, with General Mac- 
Arthur's brigade, which had arrived in transports July 31. 
The difficulties of this operation can hardly be over-esti- Ha r. d to Land 

r J : Troops. 

mated. . The transports were at anchor off Cavite, five 
miles from a point on the beach, where it was desired to disembark the men. 
Several squalls, accompanied by floods of rain, raged day after day, and the 
only way to get the troops and supplies ashore was to load from the ship's 
side into native lighters (called " cascoes ") or small steamboats, move them 
to a point opposite the camp and then disembark them through the surf in 
small boats, or by running the lighters' heads on the beach. The landing 
was finally accomplished after days of hard work and hardship ; and I desire 



Attack on the 



94 



THE STORY OF MANILA'S FALL. 



here to express again my admiration for the fortitude and cheerful willing- 
ness of the men of all commands engaged in this operation. 

Upon the assembly of MacArthur's brigade in support of General 
Greene's, I had about 8,500 men in position to attack, and I deemed the time 
had come for final action. During the time of the night 

Ready to Take stacks I had communicated my desire to Admiral Dewey 
the City. , J 

that he would allow his ships to open fire on the right of 

the Spanish line of entrenchments, believing that such action would 
stop the night firing and loss of life, but the admiral had declined to order 
it unless we were in danger of losing our position by the assaults of the 
Spanish, for the reason that, in his opinion, it would precipitate a general 
engagement, for which he was not ready. 

However, the brigade of General MacArthur was in position, and the 
" Monterey " had arrived, and under date of August 6, Admiral Dewey 
agreed to my suggestion that we should send a joint letter to the captain- 
general (Augustin) notifying him that he should remove from the city all non- 
combatants within forty-eight hours, and that operations against the defences 
at Manila might begin at any time after the expiration of that period. 

This letter was sent August 7, and a reply was received the same date, 
to the effect that the Spanish were without places of refuge for the increased 
numbers of wounded, sick, women and children now lodged 
Ultimatum to w ithin the walls. On the ninth, a formal ioint demand for 

Augustin. J 

the surrender of the city was sent in. This demand was 
based on the hopelessness of the struggle on the part of the Spaniards and 
that every consideration of humanity demanded that the city should not be 
subjected to bombardment under such circumstances. 

The captain-general's reply, of same date, stated that the counsel of 
defense had declared that the demand could not be granted, but the captain- 
general offered to consult his government if we would allow him the time 
strictly necessary for the communications by way of Hong Kong. This was 
declined on our part for the reason that it could, in the opinion of the 
admiral and myself, lead only to a continuance of the situation, with no 
immediate result favorable to us, and the necessity was apparent and very 
urgent that decisive action should be taken at once to compel the enemy to 
give up the town, in order to relieve troops from the trenches and from the 
exposure of unhealthy conditions, which was unavoidable in a bivouac during 
the rainy season. 

The seacoast batteries in defense of Manila are so situated that it is 
impossible for ships to engage them without firing into the town, and as the 
bombardment of a city filled with women and children, sick and wounded, 



THE STORY OF MANILA'S FAIX. 



95 



and containing a large amount of neutral property, could only be justified 
as a last resort, it was agreed between Admiral Dewey and myself, that an 
attempt should be made to carry the extreme right of the Spanish line of 
entrenchments in front of the positions at that time occupied by our troops, 
which, with its flank on the seashore, was entirely open to the fire of the 
navy. 

It was not my intention to press the assault at this point, in case the 
enemy should hold it in strong force, until after the navy had made practi- 
cable breaches in the works and shaken the troops holding 
them, which could not be done by the army alone, owing Combatants"" 
to the absence of siege guns. It was believed, however, 
as most desirable, and in accordance with the principles of civilized warfare, 
that the attempt should be made to drive the enemy out of his entrench- 
ments before resorting to the bombardment of the city. 

By orders issued some time previously Mac Arthur's and Greene's bri- 
gades were organized as the Second Division of the Eighth Corps, Brigadier- 
General Thomas Anderson commanding, and in anticipation of the attack 
General Anderson moved his headquarters from Cavite to the brigade camps 
and assumed direct command in the field. Copies of the written and verbal 
instructions, referred to above, were given to the division and brigade com- 
manders on the twelfth, and all the troops were in position on the thirteenth 
at an early hour in the morning. 

About 9 a. m. on that day our fleet steamed forward from Cavite and 
before 10 a. m. opened a hot and accurate fire of heavy shells and rapid fire 
projectiles on the sea flank of the Spanish entrenchments 
at the powder magazine fort, and at the same time the AsS ^| j t 5g a Latld 
Utah Batteries, in position in our trenches near the ' ' Calle 
Real," began firing with great accuracy. 

At 10.25 on a prearranged signal from our trenches that it was believed 
our troops could advance, the navy ceased firing and immediately a light 
line of skirmishers from the Colorado regiment of Greene's brigade passed 
over our trenches and deployed rapidly forward, another line from the same 
regiment from the left flank of our earthworks advancing swiftly up the 
beach in open order. 

Both these lines found the powder magazine, fort and the trenches 
flanking it deserted, but as they passed over the Spanish works they were 
met by a sharp fire from a second line situated in the streets of Malate, by 
which a number of men were killed and wounded, among others the soldiers 
who pulled down the Spanish colors still flying on the fort and raised our 
own. 



96 



THB STORY OF MANILA'S BALL. 



The works of the second line soon gave way to the determined advance 
of Greene's troops, and that officer pushed his brigade rapidly through Malate 
and over the bridges to occupy Binondo and San Miguel, as contemplated in 
his instructions. 

In the meantime, the brigade of General MacArthur advancing simul- 
taneously on the Passay Road, encountered a very sharp fire, coming from 
the blockhouses, trenches and woods in his front, positions which it was 
very difficult to carry, owing to the swampy condition of the ground on both 
sides of the roads and the heavy undergrowth which concealed the enemy. 
With much gallantry and excellent judgment on the part of the brigade com- 
mander and the troops engaged these difficulties were overcome with a 
minimum loss, and MacArthur advanced and held the bridges and the town 
of Malate. 

The city of Manila was now in our possession, excepting the walled 

town, but shortly after the entry of our troops into Malate a white flag 

was displayed on the walls, whereupon Lieutenant-Colonel 

Manila q ^ Whittier, United States Volunteers, of my staff, and 
Capitulates. . ' . 

Lieutenant Brumby, United States Navy, representing 

Admiral Dewey, were sent ashore to communicate with the captain-general. 

I soon personally followed these officers into the town, going at once to 
the palace of the governor- general, and there, after a conversation with the 
Spanish authorities, a preliminary agreement of the terms of capitulation 
was signed by the captain-general and myself. This agreement was subse- 
quently incorporated into the formal terms of capitulation, as arranged by 
the officers representing the two forces. 

Immediately after the surrender the Spanish colors on the sea front 
were hauled down and the American flag displayed, and saluted by the guns 
of the navy. The Second Oregon Regiment, which had proceeded by sea 
from Cavite, was disembarked and entered the walled town as a provost 
guard, and the colonel was directed to receive the Spanish arms and deposit 
them in places of security. The town was filled with the troops of the 
enemy driven in from the intrenchments, regiments formed and standing in 
line in the streets, but the work of disarming proceeded quietly and nothing 
unpleasant occurred in the proceedings of surrender to our forces of the 
Spanish army of defence, and our complete occupation of Manila. 



OUR BATTLES WITH THE FILIPINOS. 



97 



OUR BATTLES WITH THE FILIPINOS. 

Aguinaldo Leads a Host of His Followers Against the American 

Army Occupying Manila. 

By J. W. Buei*. 

THE intervention of a superior power to aid a struggling people to 
free themselves from the oppressions and abuses practiced by their 
subjugators is invariably attended by ingratitude, which usually 
manifests itself in hostile demonstrations against their liberators. 
This sudden change to enmity of a freed people has its origin in the soulless 
ambition of thankless leaders, who, conceiving a purpose to become absolute 
as rulers, promote the military spirit of their followers, which they then 
employ for their own selfish ends, and often to the ruin of their purblind 
followers as well as themselves. This is especially true of the semi-civilized, 
among whom insurgent leaders who once taste the fruit of victory, however 
small and transitory , may never thereafter be depended upon to yield loyal 
allegiance to any power above them. The United States Government is in 
an attitude to feel the effects of this base ingratitude, and that our humane 
intervention in Cuba and in the Philippines will bring upon us the hostility 
of those liberated peoples there can be no doubt, and may involve us in a 
long and costly war, wherein we shall occupy the position from which oui 
armies have recently driven Spain. Indeed, the first blow has already been 
struck by the Filipinos, who, mindless of the service which the United 
States rendered in freeing them from the exactions and cruelty of their 
Spanish taskmasters, are now anxious to expel their civilized liberators, to 
disclaim all obligations, and to assert their independence. 

The signing of the Peace Treaty at Paris, December 10, which termi- 
nated our war with Spain, was almost immediately followed by acts of 
arrogance and supercilious conduct on the part of Agui- 
naldo" who assuming- the powers of a sovereign — though _ Agmnaldo's 

' . . Assumptions of 

without recognition — proceeded to levy taxes, issue pro- Authority, 
clamations, impose restrictions upon American troops, and 
conducted himself in a manner that was calculated to irritate our officers 
and to incense our soldiers to the limit of patience. Refusal by the President 
and Secretary of State to recognize Aguinaldo's representative, Agoncillo, 
who visited Washington and memorialized Congress in a vain effort to secure 
acknowledgment of Philippine independence, so angered Aguinaldo that he 
7 



9 8 



OUR BATTLES WITH THE FILIPINOS. 



made preparations to resume the war against American troops in the Philip 
pines as invaders. He was able to secure from traders, who were more 
mercenary than patriotic, 10,000 Mauser and Remington rifles, 3,000,000 
rounds of ammunition, two 20-pounder Krupp guns and several pieces of field 
artillery. He thereupon began active operations by intrenching his 20,000 
troops in the vicinity of Manila, and in making preparations for conducting 
hostilities. The administration entertained the hope that forbearance and 
kind treatment might influence Aguinaldo to accept the kind offices and 
sincere good will of America, which, however, instead of being appreciated, 
served no other purpose than to provide opportunity desired by the insurgents 
to strengthen their position and to complete their preparations for war. 

It unfortunately happened that the administration's pacific utterances 
and great forbearance was regarded by the Filipinos as an evidence of hesita- 
tion and weakness. In practicing toleration to avoid actual conflict with the 
natives, and to save bloodshed, a certain official recognition was given the 
Filipinos. A striking illustration of this fact occurred on December 21, 
when the two forces were very near an engagement. Up to that date the 
sentries of the American and insurgent forces had guarded opposite ends 
of the Paco bridge, a stone structure across a ten-foot creek on the out- 
skirts of the city, but in accordance with instructions the American officer 
of the day essayed to post his sentry in the centre of the bridge. The 
Filipino guard objected, however, and when a protest was made informed 
the Americans that at nine o'clock the next morning they would fire 
upon the American line unless the sentry was withdrawn. At the appointed 
hour Major-General Anderson and some 4,000 men were on hand, but after a 
conference the Filipinos were recognized to the extent that the sentry was 
withdrawn to his former position, and the American troops marched back to 
their quarters. 

The issuance of General Otis' proclamation regarding the intentions of 
the Americans in the Philippines gave Aguinaldo the opportunity desired, 
and in less than twelve hours after the former was published the Filipino's 
response was posted on the walls of the city. Its effect was instantaneous 
upon the natives generally and their attitude was such that it was deemed 
advisable to keep the entire army of occupation in quarters and under arms, 
in order that they might be ready should an emergency arise. 

Two trivial incidents which occurred simultaneously in different parts of 
the city occasioned a false alarm at 2.30 o'clock, January 6, 1899, and the 
entire troops were called " to arms." Within fifteen minutes after the echoes 
of the bugles had died away the whole force was under way, every company 
of every regiment being in its allotted position ready for action. While this 



OUR BATTLES WITH THE FILIPINOS. 



99 



created somewhat of a sensation temporarily, the promptitude with which 
the troops responded to the call had the effect of restoring confidence. 

In response to the conciliatory proclamation of Major-General Otis, 
issued January 4, Aguinaldo issued an official manifesto in which he says ; 

" General Otis calls himself in the proclamation 
referred to, ( Military Governor of the Philippine Islands,' Manifesto* 
and I protest once and a thousand times and with all the 
energy of my soul, against such authority. I solemnly proclaim that I have 
never had, neither in Singapore nor in Hong Kong, nor here, in the Philip- 
pines, any undertaking or agreement either by word or by writing, to recog- 
nize the sovereignity of America in this, our loved country. On the 
contrary, I say that I returned to these islands on board an American warship 
on the sixth of May of last year, with the decided and manifest proposition 
to carry on the war with the Spaniards, to reconquer our liberty and our 
independence. 

" In the proclamation of General Otis, he alludes to instructions written 
for him by His Excellency, the President of the United States, referring to 
the administration of affairs in the Philippines Islands. I solemnly protest 
in the name of God, the root and foundation of all justice and of all right, 
and who has given to me power to direct my dear brothers in the difficult 
work of our generation, against this intrusion of the Government of the 
United States in the sovereignty of these islands. Equally, I protest in the 
name of all the Philippine people against this intrusion, because when they 
gave me their vote of confidence, electing me, though unworthy, as president 
of the nation, when they did this they imposed on me the duty to sustain 
to the death their liberty and independence." 

It was against such sentiment that the American authorities had to 
contend, which appeal for the right of self-government had a powerful 
influence in the United States Congress, and among a large 
proportion of the American people, which manifested itself A Plan to Dcfeat 

7 .. Ratification of 

m an opposition to a ratification of the Paris treaty strong the j rea t y . 
enough to postpone the vote until February 6. Aguinaldo 
persuaded himself to believe that a hostile demonstration by his troops 
immediately before the time set for senatorial action would cause a rejection 
of the treaty on the final vote. This vain belief he put into effect on the 
night of Saturday, February 4, by making an attack on the American lines 
guarding Manila, entertaining no doubt that he would be able to surprise 
Major-General Otis and under the cover of darkness achieve an easy victory. 

The situation was precarious for a long while, though the Filipinos 
sought to quiet suspicion of their designs by profuse assurances whenever 



IOO 



OUR BATTLES WITH THE FILIPINOS. 



they were discovered in a hostile act. They maintained a strictly belligerent 
attitude, however, and their sentries were posted within a few yards of our 
outposts, while day and night a large force was industriously 
irritating Conduct en or a gr e d increasing their intrench ments and otherwise pre- 

of the Filipinos. & . & s . , r 

paring for an attack upon Manila. Such strained 
relations could not endure indefinitely, and the rupture was finally precipi- 
tated by an invasion of the neutral zone by a small party of insurgents who 
passed the American guards and refused to halt or turn back when chal- 
lenged. At this time the fighting force of the insurgents was estimated to be 
30,000 men, of which number 20,000 were before Manila, fairly well armed 
and occupying strong positions. Our total force in the Philippines was 
about twenty-one thousand, two thousand of which number was incapaci- 
tated, by sickness, or on leave, and less than ten thousand were in Manila, 
the others being distributed at various points in the islands. 

When hostilities began by an attack made by the Filipinos on the 
night of Saturday, Febiuary 4, 1899, the American army encircled Manila 
in two divisions. The first division was commanded by General Anderson, 
the First brigade of the First division being under command of Brigadier- 
General King, and the Second being commanded by Brigadier-General Oven- 
shine. The lines extended from the sea along the line of Spanish block- 
houses to the Pasig River, in Samapaloc. The Second division, under Gen- 
eral MacArthur, with the First brigade, commanded by Brigadier-General 
Harrison G. Otis, and the Second brigade, by Brigadier-General Hale, 
occupied a position to the north of the city from Pasig River to the 
sea. 

The most extreme point inland occupied by American troops was the 
camp of the Nebraska regiment, at Santa Mesa, where the first fight began 
on Saturday at 8.45 p. m. The Nebraska outposts challenged and fired on 
an insurgent company, which was advancing into the neutral zone, but the 
Filipinos disregarded the command and a few moments later another com- 
pany swept across the neutral zone as if by preconcerted signal which 
drew the fire of our sentries and the battle opened. A heavy force of insur- 
gents on the north of the city began a sharp fusillade on the Nebraska camp, 
to which the regiment responded with spirit. Springfields flamed in the 
half moon all about the camp, while the enemy's Mausers gave no flash. 

At four o'clock on Sunday morning, with the shout 

Tried to R"sh Q f u y^ va j a Republica ! " the Filipinos tried to rush across 
Across the Bridge. 1 r 

the bridge, over a road leading to the waterworks, opposite 

the American camp. One company of Nebraska men met the advancing 
insurgents at the bridge and drove them back. Twice the Filipinos, with 



OUR BATTLES WITH THK FILIPINOS. 



IOI 



indomitable pluck, charged upon the bridge again, but they were driven 
back each time. 

Lieutenant Webb, of Battery A, stationed on Santa Mesa Hill, prayed 
for daylight, and when dawn came two guns of the Utah battery opened fire 
so near to the firing line that two men were killed at once. 

The plan of the second division was to sweep forward and carry a high 
position held by the enemy north of the Pasig River. The Colorado volun- 
teers, under command of Colonel Mecoy, rushed blockhouses No. 2 and No. 6, 
and the villages beyond San Juan Bridge were cleared with shrapnel. The 
Nebraska men made their way over the bridge, crouching in pairs, amid 
the hissing and pattering of bullets. On the other side they were met with 
a hail of lead from the steep hill of San Juan; but they were followed closely 
by two Nordenfeldts, under charge of Lieutenant Gibbs. As these rumbled 
over the bridge a battalion of Tennessee troops approached and quickly 
followed across, in columns of four, under fire. Colonel Smith fell from 
his horse and died of apoplexy at the moment of the charge. 

Up the hill the artillery and infantry scrambled, dig- 
ging with their hands and feet. Nothing could stand Char e e of Artillery 
1 r 2.1 -r 1 • 1 a 1 , -. and Infantry 

betore them. It was a grand sight. At twelve o'clock up tne H5 |^ 
noon (Sunday, February 5) our men took the reservoirs at 
the top of the hill. Further to the left, on the heights, was Binando church. 
In order to take this the Americans did not have to advance up a steep 
incline, but could make a gradual ascent over two miles of rough country, 
though barbed wire impeded their advance. 1 

The Utah guns followed the troops step by step, to clear the way, while 
the Third Artillery moved along dikes through a cul-de-sac, with swamps on 
either side, and got into the open, losing twenty-five men. Two batteries then 
swung to the right, under Captain O'Hara, going into the open like veterans, 
and drove from the Chinese church the insurgents, who were pouring a cut- 
ting fire on the Montana and Pennsylvania troops while they were coming 
up the hill through a cemetery toward Binando church. 

Colonel Frost, commanding the South Dakota regiment, swung that 
body around from the left and carried two insurgent redoubts, where thirty 
Filipinos were killed. The South Dakota and a part of the Pennsylvania 
troops then stormed and took the Binando church. 

The " Concord " from the bay shelled the woods near 

the shore, and the Kansas men, followed by the Montana Successfully 
' ' J - Repulsed Six 

troops and supported by one gun, moved on Saturday Onslaughts. 

night along the Caloocan road. The enemy charged them 

six times, coming within one hundred yards, but they were steadily pushed 



102 



OUR BATTLES WITH THE FILIPINOS. 



back until, by Sunday night, the American line had advanced three 
miles. 

Thus, all along, the Second division had little difficulty in driving the 
enemy, who fought well behind trenches, but, once dislodged, fled in 
panic. Against the First division, south of the city the fighting was hardest, 
the insurgents showing wonderful pluck, under the command of General 
Noviel. 

During Saturday night everything was quiet; but at half-past seven 
o'clock on Sunday morning, from Artillery Knoll — General Anderson's 
headquarters — the Sixth Artillery opened fire, and from the bay to block- 
house No. 14 — where the American troops entered Manila — the ground was 
held by the North Dakota regiment and the Fourteenth Infantry. The 
"Monadnock," from her place in the bay, pounded the insurgents with her 
big guns. 

Captain Murphy, in command of the Fourteenth battalion, began fight- 
ing at eight o'clock in the morning. So stubborn was the resistance at this 
point that he succeeded in taking blockhouse No. 14, four hundred yards> 
distance, only at two o'clock in the afternon. This place is called " Bloody 
Lane " by the Spaniards. 

Lieutenant Michael fell, crying, " Never mind me. Go 

Lieutenant on j >, Lieutenant Miles then took the lead. One hun- 

Michael's Heroic 

Death. area, yards from the blockhouse the fire was so hot he 
called for volunteers, and, with eight men, he took it, the 
insurgents going out as his men went in. 

General Ovenshine was ordered to dislodge the enemy in Murphy's front. 
He formed a brigade of the Fourteenth Infantry on the right of Murphy's 
position, with volunteers on the right of the Fourteenth Infantry and Troops 
E, C and L, of the Fourth Cavalry, dismounted, on the left of Murphy's 
men. All the men to the right of Murphy's position wheeled to the left 
across an open field till a thicket was reached. Then they opened fire and 
the enemy finally was dislodged. The engagement was hot, but the fire of 
our men was irresistible. General Ovenshine, with his brigade, then pro- 
ceeded to Pasay, which he entered without resistance. 

The line of the First division on Sunday extended from the bay at 
Pasay to the Pasig River, at San Pedro and Macati. Further inland our line 
ran along the stream to Triega. Three miles in front was an open country. 
One and a half miles diagonally across the line Colonel Smith, with three 
companies of California troops, one Washington and four Wyoming com- 
panies, was ordered to advance toward San Pedro Macati. General King 
was to move forward as soon as Colonel Smith came opposite. The troops 



OUR BATTLES WITH THE FILIPINOS. 



103 



waded the stream and marched into the open as if they were on drill. 
From the stone houses, nipa huts and earthworks the enemy poured bul- 
lets upon the Americans, while Battery D, of the Sixth 
Artillery, under Captain Dyers, and Hawthorne's separate crossed the Stream 
Montana battery continued to shell the enemy magnifi- Under Hot Fire, 
cently over the heads of the advancing troops. 

At San Pedro Macati the position of the insurgents seemed impregnable, 
but Lieutenant Haven, of Company A Engineer Corps, forced a way back 
of the town, and, by plucky work, made the position untenable for the 
enemy. Washington troops swam the estuary under fire, and later the Idaho 
troops, with one company of Washington men, swept the insurgents toward 
the left. One hundred of the Filipinos jumped into the Pasig River, but 
only twenty succeeded in getting across the stream. The village was burned 
on every side to dislodge the guerillas. The smoke of fire and battle 
encircled the city. 

An improvised river gunboat, with Captain Randolph, of the Third 
Artillery, commanding, riddled Santa Ana with its guns. The Idaho troops 
charged the bastion fort, and Major McConville was killed. Two Krupp 
guns were captured. Sixty-five dead insurgents were found in one heap and 
the rice fields were dotted with dead and wounded Filipinos. The hospital 
corps did splendid work for both friend and enemy. The insurgents, once 
dislodged, ran miles back into the country, all along the line swept by the 
First Division. 

On Monday afternoon the Nebraska battalions, the Twenty-third Infantry 

and the Tennessee troops, General Hale commanding, with four guns, under 

Major Young, of Utah, swept the country for four miles, 

to the pumping station. They shelled the insurgents from Ga,,ant Work of 
1 mi -. mi T 1 i- r 1 1 1 -11 r -. -i Voiunteers on 

lull to hill. At the toot of the second hill was found the Monday. 

stripped body of Dr. Young, of Utah, who rode through 

the lines by mistake. His horse had been shot and twelve empty revolver 

cartridges were found by his side, indisputable evidence of the heroic fight 

he had made against the multitude that overwhelmed and shot him to death. 

The insurgents retired, firing as they went, and at five o'clock in the 

afternoon of Monday the pumping station had been taken. The cylinder 

heads/, liad been removed by the insurgents, but they were found later, in the 

coal ' works, and being in good condition, were promptly replaced. On 

Tu/jsday General Anderson moved his left up to the Lagana Pasig, which 

surrendered. 

For several days thereafter trainloads of insurgents were seen landing 
at Caloocan, north of Manila, and on Friday the " Concord " shelled the 



104 



OUR BATTLES WITH THE FILIPINOS. 



town. General MacArthur sent the Kansas and Montana troops and the 
Third Artillery to take the place. In a splendid charge the Kansas men 
went through a jungle near shore, driving the enemy before them, and 
killing great numbers. 

For several days after being routed from before Manila the insurgents 
were to be seen gathering at Caloocan, twelve miles to the north, evidently 
with the intention of rallying their forces for another attack. To anticipate 
the plans of the enemy and render them ineffectual, Major-General Elwell 
S. Otis, commander of the American forces, determined to attack the city at 
once. Accordingly, on Friday, the tenth, he sent instructions to his officers, 
and also requested assistance of the naval forces under Admiral Dewey. A 
few hours later Major-General MacArthur reported that all was ready, and at 
three o'clock he received the following message : 

The commanding general orders you to go ahead with the program. 

Barry. 

The monitor " Monadnock " and the cruiser " Charleston " immediately 
manoeuvred for position, and as Caloocan is within easy range from the bay, 
a vigorous bombardment from their eight-inch guns was begun. 

At the same time that the warships began shelling, the Sixth Artillery 
and the Utah Battery opened fire on the rebel intrenchments on the landward 
sides of the town. The country between the American portion and Caloocan 
was covered with banana groves, bamboo hedges and paddy fields, with here 
and there straggling collections of nipa huts, all of which afforded excellent 
shelter for the native soldiers near the town proper who were not in the 
trenches or otherwise disposed of. Some of these men had the reputation of 
being sharpshooters, but their work did not justify the title, as the damage 
done by them was trifling. 

The artillery and the warships pounded away until four o'clock, when 
orders were given for General Harrison G. Otis' brigade, except the Penn- 
sylvania regiment, which was held as a reserve, to move 

Ga the infantry* ^ on ^ e enem y' s wor ks. The men had been impatiently 
waiting for the order, and as the word was passed down 
the line they responded with cheers. The movement was made in the 
following order from left to right : Twentieth Kansas Infantry, First Montana 
Infantry and Third Artillery, the Twentieth Kansas and the First Montana 
being supported by the First Idaho Infantry, and the Third Artillery by the 
Fourth Cavalry. 

The Filipinos were awaiting the advance of the troops, and as the 
Americans began to move forward the rebels started a rattling fire, which 



OUR BATTLES WITH THK FILIPINOS. 



165 



made considerable noise but did no great damage. The Americans declined 
to answer, but pressed steadily forward. Not a stop was made until they 
reached the intrenchments, from which most of the natives hastily scrambled 
as the Americans drew near. The rebels tried to make their way to the 
shelter afforded by the town, but scores of them failed to reach their goal 5 
being stopped by American bullets. 

Just at this time the Filipinos were thrown into worse confusion by the 
discovery that they had been flanked. A company of the First Montana 
Infantry, under command of Major J. Franklin Bell, Chief of the Bureau of 
Military Information, whose services had been invaluable, had volun- 
teered to execute the flank movement, and moving off to the east, 
without being detected arrived on the enemy's flank back of the town. The 
natives saw they were trapped, and scattering, fled like sheep, many of 
them, dropping their weapons in their anxiety to escape. The Americans 
had jumped the trenches, and, yelling and cheering, were 
in full pursuit. It was simply a rout, and proved that, A ^"""J^ 1 *"* 
even with the aid of artificial defences, the Filipinos are 
no match for the Americans who are fighting them. Barricades had been 
erected at the place where the Malabon road crosses the line of the Daguypan 
Railway, in the centre of the town. These had been torn to pieces in 
many places by the fire from the warships and land batteries. 

As the Twentieth Kansas and First Montana regiments entered the 
town from the south, some of the fleeing natives set fire to the huts, whose 
roofs are made of nipa grass, thinking to start a blaze which would destroy 
the place. In this they were disappointed, however, as the Americans 
extinguished the fires. 

The losses of the Americans were slight, but the enemy suffered heavily 
both in killed and wounded. Most of the casualties to the Filipinos were 
caused by shrapnel, the screaming and effectiveness of which caused terror 
among the natives. Among the Americans wounded was Colonel Bruce 
Wallace, of the First Montana Infantry. 

After the Americans were in possession of the town it was found that 
there was only one house in the place that had a flagstaff. This belonged 
to Mr. Higgins, an Englishman, who is president of the Daguypan Railway. 
He lent the staff to General Otis, and at half-past five o'clock the American 
flag was floating over the town. Its appearance was greeted with enthusiastic 
cheering by the troops. 

Insurgent troops were massing to the support of Aguinaldo's forces at 
Caloocan and Malabon when the fighting began. It was reported that there 
were 6,000 rebels at the two places, among them being the famous Seventy- 



io6 



OUR BATTLES WITH THE FILIPINOS. 



third Filipino Regiment, which in the last rebellion killed its Spanish officers 
and then deserted to Aguinaldo. 

Except for the advance on Caloocan the American line was much the 
same as it was on Wednesday. On the right General Ovenshine's brigade 
extended to the beach two miles north of Camp Dewey and to the Pasig River. 
Lieutenant-Colonel Treumann, with the North Dakota volunteers, had 
established his headquarters on the beach, whence he was in signal commu- 
nication with the American fleet. The Second battalion of the Dakota 
regiment extended along the front, and all of the Fourteenth Infantry except 
Companies M and E was stationed at the Pasig River and extended thence 
to San Pedro and Malate. General King's headquarters was in Pasig Village, 
which surrendered the day before the attack on Caloocan, and the California 
regiment occupied the villages of Pasig, Malate and Santa Ana. On the left 
General Otis' brigade, consisting of the Twentieth Kansas regiment, eight 
companies of the Pennsylvania regiment, the Montana regiment and four 
batteries of the Third Artillery, stretched back from Caloocan to the Chinese 
cemetery, where there was an excellent signal station on a hill, and from a 
church tower the signalmen communicated with the fleet. 

The Third Artillery regulars, acting as infantry, pushed forward in the 
face of Filipino bullets as cheerfully as though the deadly missiles had been 

snow-balls, before which resolute advance and the combined 
Fac«of S a leaden ac ^ on °f tne swiftly closing lines of the Americans the 
Storm. enemy retreated in an utter rout and fled helter-skelter 

to the mountains. 

At six o'clock u cease firing" and the " recall " were sounded. The 
troops were then well through Caloocan and north of it with the enemy 
flying in utter rout in every direction. 

By the capture of Caloocan control of the Manila-Daguypan Railroad was 
obtained, which enabled the Americans to move and concentrate troops 
promptly along the line, and to invest Malabon, Aguinaldo's seat of govern- 
ment, which was, however, evacuated on the following day, most of the town 
being burned by the Filipinos. The American casualties in the two engage- 
ments were fifty-nine killed and 199 wounded, while the loss of the Filipinos 
is supposed to have exceeded 2,500 killed and wounded, and 4,000 prisoners. 

About three hundred miles south of Manila is the island of Panay, 
which comprises 4,633 square miles, and contains a population of 775,000. 

The island, though a small one, is extremely rich, and the 
The Capture of p e0 p] e are more advanced than in any other part of the 
group. The chief town is Iloilo, of some 35,000 inhabi- 
tants, an<3 is the seat of the Catholic see of Jaro. The natives of this island 



OUR BATTLES WITH THE FILIPINOS. 107 

maintained a stubborn resistance against the Spanish for more than a year, 
and having a fairly well organized army of 10,000 men, were unwilling to 
disband after the treaty between Spain and the United States was concluded. 
Several efforts at pacification were made by our commissioners, but all peace- 
ful overtures failed of their purpose, the natives always demanding recogni- 
tion of their independence, and refused to treat upon any other basis. The 
cruiser " Boston," accompanied by the " Petrel," was finally dispatched to 
the island, convoying three transport ships, carrying 3,000 troops, but these 
were not permitted to land, and for nearly two weeks they lay off Iliolo 
awaiting orders ; in the meantime General M. P. Miller, who was in com- 
mand, was vainly trying to persuade the insurgents to peacefully permit 
American occupation. So far from accepting the overtures made by General 
Miller, the insurgents remained defiant and prepared for vigorous resistance 
by strengthening their defences. 

This irritating condition was at length relieved by the action of Major- 
General Otis, who on February 8, dispatched Colonel Potter with instructions 
for General Miller, upon receipt of which, on February 10, an ultimatum 
was delivered to the insurgents, warning them that an attack would be made 
upon Iloilo in twenty-four hours, if the work of strengthening the defences of 
the city were not at once discontinued. 

The " Boston " and the " Petrel " made a reconnoissance on the morning 
of February 11. The insurgents apparently were quiet, but at half-past 8 
o'clock, officers on the " Petrel " observed the enemy constructing new 
earthworks and bringing additional guns to bear. Captain Wilde was 
informed, and the " Boston " fired two small projectiles as a warning to the 
insurgents, who immediately entered their intrenchments and opened fire 
on the " Petrel." Both vessels replied, and soon the insurgents abandoned 
their works. 

Several fires were observed in the town soon afterward, and at 11 
o'clock our ships landed parties under Lieutenant Niblack, of the " Boston," 
one battalion occupying the fort and substituting the American for the 
Filipino flag, the sailors assisting. Our troops, taking possession of the 
trenches, pushed through the town, extinguishing the fires where possible, 
and driving the insurgents outside. General Miller later landed additional 
troops. Pushing forward to the bridges leading to Jolo and Molo, the 
insurgents fired the native Chinese houses, which they had previously 
saturated with kerosene, and also the offices of the Smith Bell Company, 
and the British and American consuls, the German consulate, a Swiss 
business house, and an empty warehouse belonging to an American 
firm. 



io8 



SHALL WE KEEP THE PHILIPPINES? 



This destructive vandalism was all the injury the insurgents were able 
to inflict, as not a single American soldier was killed or wounded in the 
attack, and complete possession of Iloilo was obtained, with a prospect that 
no further resistance to our arms would be offered by the Filipinos of 
Panay. 



SHALL WE KEEP THE PHILIPPINES? 

Questions that Influenced the Treaty Commissioners in Their 
Negotiations with Spain's Representatives. 

By 




{Member of the American Commission. ) 



BEYOND the Alleghenies the American voice rings clear and true. It 
does not appear anywhere in our country that there is a consider- 
able sentiment favoring the pursuit of partisan aims in questions of 
foreign policy or division among our people in the face of insurgent 
guns turned on our soldiers. Neither has any reproach come because when 
intrusted with our interests in a great negotiation your commissioners made 
a settlement on terms too favorable to their own country. If we have 
brought back too much, that is only a question for Congress and our own 
people. If we had brought back too little, it might have been a question 
for the army and the navy. 

Put yourself for a moment in our place. Would you have had your 
representatives in Paris declare that while the Spanish rule in the West 
Indies was so wicked that it was our duty to destroy it, we were now so 
eager for peace that we were willing in the Bast to re-establish that same 
wicked rule ? Would you have had them throw away a magnificent foot- 
hold for the trade of the farther Bast, which the fortune of war had placed 
in your hands ? 

Your representatives in Paris were dealing with a nation with whom it 
has never been easy to make peace, but they secured a peace treaty without 
a word that endangers the interests of the country. They scrupulously 



SHAIX WK KEEP THE PHILIPPINES ? 



109 



reserved for your own decision the question of political status for the 
inhabitants of your new possessions. They maintained, in the face of vehe- 
ment opposition of well nigh all Europe, a principle vital to oppressed 
people struggling for freedom. That principle is that debts do not neces- 
sarily follow the territory if incurred by the mother country distinctly in 
efforts to enslave it. But your representatives at the same time placed your 
country in no attitude of endeavoring to evade just obligations. 

They protected what was gained in the war from adroit efforts to put it 
all at risk again, through an untimely appeal to the noble principle of arbi- 
tration. They were enabled to pledge the most protectionist country in the 
world to the policy of the open door in the East. 

At the same time they neither neglected nor feared the duty of caring 
for the material interests of their own country, the duty of grasping the 
enormous possibilities for sharing in the development of 
the East. In that way lies now the best hope of American Thc Expansion 
commerce. The Atlantic Ocean carries mainly trade with ^ornnTerce." 
people as advanced as ourselves, who could produce or pro- 
cure elsewhere much of what they buy from us. The ocean carriage 
for the Atlantic is in the hands of our rivals. The Pacific Ocean, on the 
contrary, is in our hands now. Practically we own more than half the coast 
on this side, and have midway stations in the Sandwich and Aleutian Is- 
lands. To extend our authority over the Philippine archipelago is to fence 
in the China Sea. Rightly used it enables the United States to convert the 
Pacific Ocean almost into an American lake. 

Are we to lose all this through a mushy sentimentality, alike un-Ameri- 
can and un-Christian, since it would humiliate us by showing lack of nerve 
to hold what we are entitled to, and incriminate us by entailing endless 
bloodshed on a people whom we have stripped of the only government they 
have known for three hundred years, and whom we should thus abandon to 
civil war and foreign spoliation ? 

Eet us free our minds of some bugbears. One is the notion that with 
the retention of the Philippines our manufacturers will be crushed by the 
products of cheap Eastern labor. Another is, that our American workmen 
will be swamped under the immigration of cheap Eastern labor. It is a 
bugbear that the Filipinos would be citizens of the United States. It is a 
bugbear that anybody living on territory or other property belonging to the 
United States must be a citizen. It is equally a bugbear that the tariff must 
necessarily be the same over any of the territory of the United States as it 
is in the nation itself. 

Brushing aside these bugbears, what are the duties of the hour ? 



no 



SHALL WE KEEP THE PHILIPPINES ? 



First — hold what you are entitled to. If you are ever to part with it, 
wait, at least, till you have found out that you have no use for it. Next, 
resist admission of any of our new possessions as States, 
Neither Citizens or organization on a plan designed to prepare them 

N ° r tatiorK SCn f° r admission. Make this fight easiest by making it at 
the beginning. Resist the first effort to change the 
character of the Union. We want no Porto Ricans or Cubans to be send- 
ing Senators and Representatives to Washington. We will do them good, 
if we may, all the days of our life, but, please God, we will not divide this 
republic among them. 

Resist the crazy extension of the doctrine that government derives its 
just powers from the consent of the governed to an extreme never imagined 
by the men who framed it, and never for one moment acted upon in their 
own practice. Resist alike either schemes for purely military government 
or schemes for territorial civil governments, with offices filled by carpet- 
baggers from the United States, on an allotment of increased patronage. 

I wish to refer with respect to the sincere opposition to these conclu- 
sions, manifest chiefly in the East and iu the Senate, and with especial 
respect of the eminent statesman who has headed that opposition. No man 
will question his ability or the courage with which he follows his convic- 
tions. But I may remind my readers that the noble State he represents is 
not now counted for the first time against the development of the country. 
In 1848, Daniel Webster, speaking for the same great State, conjured up the 
same visions of the destruction of the constitution. With all due respect, 
a great spokesman of Massachusetts is as liable to mistake in this gen- 
eration as in the last. 

It is fair to say that this hesitation over the treaty of peace and ac- 
quisition of the Philippines is absolutely due to lack of faith in our own 
people, distrust of the methods of administration they may employ in the 
government of distant possessions, and distrust of their ability to resist the 
schemes of demagogues. If there is reason to fear that the American people 
cannot restrain themselves from throwing open the doors of our Senate 
and House of Representatives to Luzon or the Visayas or the Sandwich 
Islands, then the sooner we get some civilized nation with more common 
sense to take them off our hands the better. But, having thus shirked the 
position demanded by our success, let us never again presume to take a place 
among the self-respecting nations of the earth. 



SHAW, WE KEEP THK PHILIPPINES? i] 

SHALL WE KEEP THE PHILIPPINES? 
An Argument Against the Treaty and Retention of the Islands. 



IMPERIALISTS seek to create the impression that the ratification of 
the treaty has terminated the controversy in regard to the future of 
the Philippines, but there is no ground whatever for such a conclusion. 
The President has not as yet outlined a polic)', and Congress has so 
far failed to make any declaration upon the subject. Several administration 
Senators have expressly denied that ratification commits the United States 
to the permanent annexation of the Philippine Islands. 

The treaty extinguishes Spanish sovereignty, but it does not determine 
our nation's course in dealing with the Filipinos. In the opinion of many 
(and I am among the number) the ratification of the treaty, instead of closing 
the door to independence, really makes easier the establishment of such a 
government in the Philippine Islands. 

The matter is now entirely within the control of Congress, and there is 
no legal obstacle to prevent the immediate passage of a resolution promising 
self-government to the Filipinos and pledging the United States to protect 
their government from outside interference. If we have a right to acquire 
land, we have a right to part with it ; if we have a right to secure by 
purchase or conquest a disputed title from Spain, we certainly have a right 
to give a quit claim deed to the party in possession. 

If the power to part with the islands is admitted, the only question 
remaining for discussion is whether the United States should permanently 
hold the Asiatic territory acquired from Spain. For two months the senti- 
ment against imperialism has been constantly growing, and there is nothing 
in the ratification of the treaty to make such a policy more desirable. 

Until Dewey's victory no one thought us under obligation to extend 
our sovereignty over the Filipinos. If subsequent events have imposed such 
an obligation upon the United States it is worth while to inquire as to its 
nature and extent. Is it political in its character? Must we make subjects 
of the Filipinos now because we made allies of them in the war with Spain ? 
France did not recognize any such obligation when she helped us to throw 



By 




SHALL WK KEEP THE PHILIPPINES ? 



off British supremacy. Are we compelled to civilize the Filipinos by force 
because we interfereu with Spain's efforts to accomplish 
Shall We impose same en( j b y j- ne same means? Are we in duty bound 
Taxation Without ^ , \ , £ - \ . r 

Representation ? to con( l uer an d to govern, when we can rind a pretext ior 

doing so, every nation which is weaker than ours and 
whose civilization is below our standard-? Does history justify us in 
believing that we can improve the condition of the Filipinos and advance 
them in civilization by governing them without their consent and taxing 
them without representation ? England has tried that plan in India for a 
hundred and fifty years, and yet Japan has made more progress in the last 
thirty years than India has made in the one hundred and fifty. And it may 
be added, the idea of self-government has developed more rapidly among 
the Japanese during the same period than it has among the people of India. 

Government is an evolution and its administration is always susceptible 
of improvement. The capacity for self-government is developed by respon- 
sibility. As exercise strengthens the muscles of the athlete and education 
improves the mental faculties of the student, even so participation in gov- 
ernment instructs the citizen in the science of government and perfects him 
in the art of administering it. 

We must not expect the Filipinos to establish and maintain as good a 
government as ours, and it is vain for us to expect that we would maintain 
there, at long range, as good a government as we have here. The govern- 
ment is, as it were, a composite photograph of the people, a reflection of 
their average virtue and intelligence. 

Some defend annexation upon the ground that the business interests of 
the islands demand it. The business interests will probably be able to take 
care of themselves under an independent form of govern- 

The Effect Upon ment un l e ss they are very different from the business 
Business Interests. J J 

interests of the United States. The so-called business 
interest probably constitutes a very small fraction of the total population of 
the islands. Who will say that their pecuniary interests are superior in 
importance to the right of all the rest of the people to enjoy a government 
of their own choosing? 

Some say that our duty to the foreign residents in the Philippines requires 
us to annex the islands. If we admit this argument, we not only exalt the 
interests of foreigners above the interests of natives, but place higher esti- 
mate upon the wishes of foreigners residing in Manila, than upon the wel- 
fare of our own people. 

The fact that the subject of imperialism is being discussed through the 
newspapers and magazines, as well as in Congress, is evidence that the work 



SHALL WE KEEP THE PHILIPPINES ? 



of education is still going on. The advocates of a colonial policy- must con- 
vince the conservative element of the country by clear and satisfactory 
proof; they cannot rely upon catch words. The " Who will haul down the 
flag?" argument has already been discarded. " Destiny " is not as " Mani- 
fest " as it was a few weeks ago, and the argument of " Duty " is being 
analyzed. 

The people are face to face with a grave public problem. They have 
not acted upon it yet, and they will not be frightened away from the calm 
consideration of it by. the repetition of unsupported prophecies. The battle 
of Manila, which brought loss to us and disaster to the Filipinos, has not 
rendered " forcible annexation " less repugnant to our nation's " code of 
morality." If it has any effect at all it ought to emphasize the dangers 
attendant upon (if I may be permitted to quote from the President again) 
" criminal aggression." 

The Filipinos were guilty of inexcusable ignorance. They thought 
that they could prevent the ratification of the treaty by an attack upon the 
American lines, but no act of theirs can determine the permanent policy of 
the United States. Whether imperialism is desirable is too large a question 
to be stilled by a battle. Battles are to be expected under such a policy. 
England had been the dominant power in India for a century when the 
Sepoy mutiny took place, and rules even now by fear rather than by love. 

Force and reason rest upon different foundations and employ different 
forms of logic. Reason, recognizing that only that is en- 
during which is just, asks whether the thing proposed J he L °£«c °f 
ought to be done ; force says I desire, I can, I will 1 When That of R eason . 
the desire proves to be greater than the ability to accom- 
plish, the force argument reads (in the past tense) I desired, I tried, I 
failed ! But even force, if accompanied by intelligence, calculates the cost. 
No one doubts that the United States Army and Navy are able to whip into 
subjection all the Filipinos who are not exterminated in the process ; but is 
it worth the cost ? 

Militarism is only one item of the cost, but it alone will far outweigh 
all the advantages which are expected to flow from a colonial policy. John 
Morley, the English statesmen, in a recent speech to his constituents, uttered 
a warning which may well be considered by our people. He said : " Im- 
perialism brings with it militarism, and must bring with it militarism. 
Militarism means a gigantic expenditure, daily growing; it means an in- 
crease in government of the power of aristocratic and privileged classes. 
Militarism means the profusion of the taxpayers' money everywhere except 
in the taxpayer's own home, and militarism must mean war. And you 
'a 



II 4 



SHAU, WK KEEP THE PHILIPPINES? 



must be much less well read in history than I take the Liberals of Scotland to 
be if you do not know that it is not war, that hateful demon of war, but white- 
winged peace that has been the nurse and guardian of freedom and justice 
and well-being over that great army of toilers upon whose labor, upon whose 
privations, upon whose hardships, after all the greatness and the strength of 
empires and of states, are founded and are built up." 

Militarism is so necessary a companion of imperialism that the Presi- 
dent asks for a two hundred per cent increase in the standing army, even 
before the people at large have passed upon the question of annexation. 
Morley says that imperialism gives to the aristocracy and to the privileged 
classes an increased influence in government. Do we need to increase their 
influence in our government? Surely they are potent enough already. He 
calls attention to the fact that the toiler finds his hope in peaceful progress 
rather than in war's uncertainties. Is it strange that the 

imperialism and i aDorm or classes are protesting against both imperialism 
Militarism the Poor . _ T 1 . , i . ^ 

Man's Burden. an ^ militarism ? Is it possible that their protest will 
be in vain ? Imperialism has been described as " the 
white man's burden," but since it crushes the wealth producer beneath an 
increasing weight of taxes it might with more propriety be called "the poor 
man's load." 

If the Peace Commissioners had demanded a harbor and coaling station 
in the Philippines and had required Spain to surrender the rest of the islands 
to the Filipinos, as she surrendered Cuba to the Cubans, we would not now 
be considering how to let go of the islands. If the sum of twenty millions 
had been necessary to secure Spain's release, the payment of the amount by 
the Filipinos might have been guaranteed by the United States. But the 
failure of the Peace Commissioners to secure for the Filipinos the same rights 
that were obtained for the Cubans could have been easily remedied by a 
resolution declaring the nation's purpose to establish a stable and independ- 
ent government. 

It is still possible for the Senate alone, or for the Senate and House to- 
gether, to adopt such a resolution. The purpose of the annexationists, so far as 
that purpose can be discovered, is to apply to the government of the Filipino 
methods familiar to the people of Europe and Asia, but new to the United 
States. This departure from traditions was authorized by the people ; whether 
it will be ratified by them remains to be seen. The responsibility rests first 
upon Congress, and afterward upon that power which makes Congresses. 

Whatever may be the wish of individuals or the interests of parties, 
we may rest assured that the final disposition of the Philippine question 
will conform to the deliberate judgment of the voters. They constitute the 
court of last resort, from whose decision there is no appeal. 



AN AUDIENCE WITH AGUINALDO. 



"5 



AN AUDIENCE WITH AGUINALDO. 

By J. R. D. Hallowkll, 

{Of the Minnesota Volunteers.') 



I HAVE had the distinction and the satisfaction of presenting a com- 
munication to Aguinaldo, the renowned Filipino leader and president, 
and of inspecting his palatial — if not palace — headquarters at Malalos, 
which I visited in an official capacity early in January, 1899. The 
special duty which took me to Malalos I am not at liberty to divulge, but I 
violate none of the proprieties by describing what I saw and heard while 
there. My purpose being of a peaceful character, so far as I may judge by 
the information disclosed to me, I was unaccompanied by guard or attend- 
ant, my uniform being regarded as a sufficient passport among a people 
whose gratitude we at least deserved for our effective intercession in their 
behalf. 

As I approached the president's (Aguinaldo's) headquarters I observed 

at either side of the door and up the broad stone stairway men holding huge 

spears, the heads" of which shone like silver. At the top of the stairs a 

great surprise awaited me. I was conducted down a large 

hall furnished with oriental magnificence, and the men A ,. Ha 'i °, f D * z " 

fe ' zling Splendor. 

here were dressed in superb uniforms. I rubbed my eyes 
to make sure I was not dreaming — it was all so beautiful. Seated about a 
door were some fifteen or twenty people awaiting an audience with Agui- 
naldo. I simply sent in word : " An American with a communication." In- 
stantly a man came out, his dress beyond description, and, addressing me in 
good English, said, " Walk in, sir." Again I rubbed my eyes, for I was in 
a room of enormous size ; crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling ; at one 
end was a piano, and all about were signs of great wealth and even royalty. 
My escort was most gracious ; he was sorry to detain me, but the president 
had just returned from a three days' trip back in the mountains ; he was sleep- 
ing, and I must wait until he should awake. He continued: "We are show- 
ing you great honor, as you represent the American nation. All others we 
keep waiting outside in the hallway." I thanked him in the name of Uncle 
Sam, and settled down for one of the most interesting talks of my life. The 
man was Aguinaldo's secretary. He said among other things : " We are 



n6 



AN AUDIENCK WITH AGUINALDO. 



grateful to your country for freeing us from Spanish rule. We do not want 
to fight you. We love and respect you. All we want are freedom and pro- 
tection. The man sleeping in there is our Washington. 
Called the Washing- Yours made a t nation of otu Ours will do the same 

ton of His People. ° 

for us ; but should you hand the islands back to Spain, we 
will fight to the death." The time passed all too quickly. Another dooi 
opened and another gorgeous creature said : " President Aguinaldo will 
give audience to the American," and I entered what to these poor people 
is the Holy of Holies. Seated on a sort of throne behind a desk most 
beautifully carved was Aguinaldo. He arose as I approached, and when 
within a few feet of him I saluted as to an American officer. He returned 
the salute and I handed him the communication, withdrawing again a few 
feet, while he, evidently much excited and still standing, had his secretary 
read and translate into his own language the contents. All this gave me 
time to use my eyes, which I did to good effect. First, the man himself. 
He is very short in stature, with a heavy face, and wearing his jet black 
hair pompadour. He is only twenty-eight years old and has, like all the 
natives, copper-colored skin, with smooth face and tiny hands and feet ; 
unlike his attendants, he was simply dressed in a white linen suit. The 
magnificent desk was covered with a mass of silver articles, all of superb 
workmanship. The inkstand particularly was massive. The room was 
hung in dark silks, over which on the walls were superb shields, daggers and 
Spears, all highly polished. A huge globe stood by the desk and many books 
were about the room. 

After he had perused the message, I withdrew to the former apartment 
while he dictated his reply. This consumed another half hour, every min- 
ute of which I enjoyed, this time being entertained by his nephew, a boy of 
fourteen years, who was precocious and diverting, though my ignorance of his 
language prevented other communication than we were able to conduct by 
signs and facial expressions. With the answer finally in my pocket, I was 
escorted out of the old convent which was used as Aguinaldo' s official resi- 
dence, and my departure was made the occasion of many perfunctory assur- 
ances of regard, etc., which, however, we have since learned is the Filipinos' 
diplomatic disguise for evil designs. 



NARROW ESCAPE FROM AN AWFUL FATE. 



117 



NARROW ESCAPE FROM AN AWFUL FATE. 

THEY talk about these things in whispers as yet. Still, members of 
the hospital corps of the Seventy-first regiment tell some strange, 
gruesome stories of hospital life between El Caney and Siboney. 
Members of the command, in close touch with the hospital, tell 
of one instance where an unconscious yellow fever patient was being buried 
alive by careless attendants, when the unfortunate man was opportunely 
rescued. It was on July 14, 1898, in the yellow fever hospital, under the care 
of Dr. Hamilton Jones. One patient died in a tent in which there were six 
soldiers laid low by the saffron scourge. The two worst cases rested upon 
litters, covered with the regulation blankets. 

One of the assistant stewards, while walking through this particular 
tent, noticed that one of the stricken soldiers was in the throes of death. 
He saw that in a few moments the brave boy, who had escaped the deadly 
Mauser missiles, would breath his last with the yellow death. These facts 
were reported to the doctor, who promptly had the matter referred to the 
steward, Sergeant Meyer, with instructions to get the Cuban " burial detail " 
and bury the man in the trench as soon as he breathed his last. It was only 
a few minutes later that the assistant steward saw the Cubans march off with 
a litter, bearing a silent form, covered by a blanket. " Well, his folks will 
go in mourning at home," muttered the hospital official as he walked care- 
lessly into the tent in which the soldier had tamely given up his life for his 
country. As he threw back the flap of canvas he started back in amaze- 
ment. There in front of him lay the dead man on his litter-bier. 

" Whom the devil are they burying?" he yelled ; and, rushing from the 
tent, he ran like a deer to the trench where the Cubans were just throwing 
the first spadefuls of Cuban soil upon the quiet form beneath the blanket 
Brushing the swarthy military sextons aside, he jumped into the trench, 
pulled the blanket from the quiet figure, and there lay another scourge- 
stricken soldier, unconscious, but still breathing. 

Casting the blanket over the unconscious man, the assistant ended the 
obsequies before they terminated in a horror, one of the terrible errors of the 
war. The plague-stricken soldier was lifted from his premature grave and 
borne back to the hospital tent and his dead comrade placed upon the litter 
and carried to the shallow grave which had so nearly encompassed a live 
man in a living tomb. 



n8 



THE BATTLE OF LAS QUASIMAS. 



THE BATTLE OF LAS QUASIMAS- 

By Arthur T. Cosby, 

( Of the New York Volunteers.) 

I WAS in the fight, June 24, at Las Quasimas, where we were ambushed 
by the enemy. After a few days' rest in camp we were pushed ahead 
by a forced march late in the afternoon of Thursday, June 30, and 
encamped late that night with a cavalry brigade at the top of a hill 
to support the Fourth battalion of artillery. I was on guard that night 
from one to three, so that I had little sleep when the reveille sounded at four, 
Friday morning. About daybreak the artillery opened fire at the village 
of Caney on the right. In the meantime our troops on the hill were waiting 
for orders to advance. Our battery opened fire at six o'clock at a distance of a 
mile and a half from Santiago. The fortifications of the city could be dis- 
tinctly seen across the valley at the foot of the hill. 

Everybody was on the qui vive, and it was only about fifteen minutes 
before the Spanish replied with shells. They had the range accurately and 
the very first shell burst over the battery and fell among our men immedi- 
ately around it. From that moment we had a most uncomfortable time. 
The shells would come hissing overhead and then burst among our men 
with an appalling frequency. The cries from the wounded on all sides 
showed that the Spanish fire was very effective. 

The feeling of lying on your rolls without seeing the enemy and with- 
out being able to shoot in return — simply waiting for the deadly shells to 
burst and then see what damage they did, — was most uncomfortable and 
appalling. Officers and men alike felt its demoralizing effects, and the 
command was finally given to move further up the hill under the protection 
of a ravine. 

This fire of shells is infinitely more awful than either fire from the 
enemy's ambush or a heavy direct volley. As the shells would hiss through 
the air, preparatory to bursting, everybody would instinc- 
Try ' bursting ^ ve ty duck to the ground. It was a great relief to get 
Shells. the command to throw rolls and haversacks aside, and 
being stripped to cartridge belts, guns and canteens, we 
advanced down the road direct toward the enemy's lines at Santiago. As 
we reached the valley near the enemy, the magazines of our guns were 
loaded, and we slowly advanced at skirmish intervals of two yards in double 



THE BATTLE OF LAS QUASIMAS. 



119 



file. We passed a little creek called the San Juan River, and suddenly the 
popping of the Mauser rifles and rattle of rapid-fire guns was heard imme- 
diately ahead. We crouched down low and deployed skirmishers on the 
right along the river bottom. The woods were pretty thick, so that it was 
impossible to see the enemy, and the open ground was covered with grass 
shoulder high. The fire began to increase in rapidity, and men were falling 
on all sides. We then saw that the enemy occupied a beautiful position a 
mile away in a blockhouse at the head of a gently sloping hill. They had 
evidently calculated the range beforehand, as their shooting, contrary to our 
expectations, was accurate. 

The command was soon given for our troops to retire to the shelter of the 
banks of the creek, and there we stood waist deep in water, waiting for the 
artillery and reinforcements to come up. All of this consumed a couple of 
hours. About noon we took our place in the general charge that advanced 
all along the line up the hill toward the blockhouse. Here we got right into 
the thick of it, and while the boys had said at Las Quasimas 
cM. Targ ?. ts !° r that we should never have such a hot fire again, the 

Sharpshooters. . ... & ' 

present fire was simply annihilating as compared to the 
other. Shells screamed overhead, bullets whistled all around, and rapid-fire 
guns belched out in murderous volleys. To stand at a man's full height 
meant certain death. The officers, unfortunately, were compelled to stand 
in order to see the position of the battlefield and to direct their men. 
As this exposed them to the direct fire of the enemy, as well as made them 
targets for the sharpshooters who were hid in trees all around, they suffered 
relatively greater than the men in the ranks. All of the general officers on 
horseback had their horses shot under them or abandoned them early in the 
game. 

We went up the hill by short dashes, crouching low to the ground, and 
then would lie down for a few minutes before advancing again. The forced 
march of the night before, together with being on guard duty and the early 
marching of that morning had exhausted me so completely that at every 
stop I tried to take a short nap. 

It was w T hile 200 yards from the crest of the hill, lying down on the 
ground, that I suddenly felt as if a rock had hit me on the hand and shoul- 
der. I got up with a start and saw that my right hand was bloody and shot 
through in three places. A^s it was impossible to fire my carbine in that 
state, I yelled out to my squad leader, Sergeant Walter Scosh, the old 
Princeton tackle of '89, that I was wounded and going to the rear. 

I went back to the creek and there found several wounded men crouch- 
ing behind the bank from the unceasing and pitiless fire overhead. Here the 



THE ANSWER. 



value of the " First Help to the Wounded" bandages was practically proven. 
The men carried these, and when our wounds were roughly bound, we all 
realized that these ready bandages had saved many a poor wounded fellow's 
life. After dressing my wounded hand, I suggested that I felt something in 
my chest, and a colored soldier opened my shirt, through which there was a 
bullet hole, and found that my breast was covered with blood. 

Several of the wounded men who could walk got together and we 
started for the rear where the air would be calmer. No one knew exactly 
where the rear was, and one man, a regular, who kept ducking every time a 
bullet would whistle by, was afraid to go either ahead or behind, to the 
right or to the left, but insisted on marching down into the creek as the only 
safe place. We went ahead, however, in one direction, trusting to luck, and 
finally struck the main road through which our troops were advancing, and 
after a tedious journey, reached the improvised hospital at Siboney, where 
our wounds received surgical attention. 




€reat flrttstvrw 



THE ANSWER. 

By Thomas Nelson Page. 

THK old lion stands in his lonely lair ; 
The noise of the hunting has broken his rest ; 
He scowls to the Bastward : tiger and bear 
Are harrying his jungle ; he turns to the West 

And sends through the murk and mist of the night 
A thunder that rumbles and rolls down the trail ; 

And tiger and bear, the quarry in sight, 

Couch low in the covert, and cower and quail ; 

For deep through the night-gloom, like surf on a shore, 
Peals thunder in answer, resounding with ire ; 

The hunters turn stricken : they know the dread roar : 
The whelp of the lion is joining his sire. 



SANGUINARY SAN JUAN HILL. 



121 



SANGUINARY SAN JUAN HILL, 

By Lieutenant Herbert Hyde True. 

LIEUTENANT TRUE, of Company L, Seventy-first Regiment, has the distinction of being 
the first man to gain the crest of San Juan Hill, in the fierce assault of July i. 
Before Santiago could be taken it was necessary that the Spanish works on San Juan 
f should be captured. On the summit was a strong blockhouse about which several 
pieces of artillery were mounted and so posted as to threaten the hill slope with a 
plunging fire. In addition to these defences trenches were dug at frequent intervals on the hill 
and barbed-wire fences were strung to impede the approach. There was little open country, 
the slopes being covered with a dense underbrush, in which Spanish sharpshooters concealed 
themselves and, using smokeless powder, fired upon our advancing troops without discovering 
their own position. To prepare the way up this hill for the advance of troops not only required 
daring, but physical strength and endurance. General Hawkins selected Lieutenant True to 
command the pioneer corps of the First Brigade of the First Division, composed of picked 
men from the Seventy-first Regiment, the Sixth and the Sixteenth Infantry. This advance up 
the mountain side was the fiercest engagement of the war. 

I remember that when we started I called out to the boys : " Come on, 
pioneers ! We've got to take this hill. Let's do our duty, no matter what 
happens." The hill was very steep ; so steep that we had to cling to the 
long grass to keep ourselves from falling backward. The Sixteenth and 
Sixth Infantry and the Seventy-first Regiment fellows circled to our left and 
right flanks. The higher up we went the more dangerous became our path. 

When we left Sevilla we started in column of fours, but we had to go 
in Indian file up the mountain road, over brooks and 
through ravines. We got along at a fair pace until we By C °^^l^ Four$ 
struck thick underbrush that was almost impenetrable, 
behind which were concealed Spanish sharpshooters with Mauser rifles and 
I smokeless powder. We knew our position was dangerous and the quicker 
we got out of it the better. The quickest way was to go ahead and get at 
the Spaniards by cutting the barbed wire of the trocha. It was like trying 
to find a needle in a haystack, this locating the Spanish sharpshooters, for 
while their bullets kept singing in our ears we couldn't see them, hidden as 
they were by the trees and bushes. 

I saw an opening and we rushed through it. I called out : u We've got 
so far and we'll go the rest of the way." The boys cheered, and on we wefi& 
with a rush. The Spanish artillery was at work in earnest, but every time 
we saw shrapnel coming the men would shout u low bridge," and we'd throw 
ourselves flat. It was pretty warm work. Three men were shot beside me, 
but I was lucky enough to get off without being hit. The Spanish put up 
a good fight. I'll give them credit for that. The big balloon that followed 



122 



HIGH OLD JINKS AT SANTIAGO. 



the Seventy-first along the charge helped them to locate our men, and their 
fire, although generally wild, was sometimes effective. The Americans had 
really underestimated their fighting ability. They knew how to shoot, and 
they had the advantage of knowing every inch of the ground. Still, they 
gave way when our men charged and retreated in a hurry. Our pioneer 
corps cut the wires with clippers and axes, and .not a man 

Hurrah, the Victory was killecL 
is Ours I 

I was the first man to reach the summit of San Juan 
Hill, and I think it was our quick action that saved our lives. The Spaniards 
were not expecting such an impetuous charge, and we took them by surprise. 

The greatest strain came upon us the night after the first day's battle. 
I didn't sleep a wink, but spent the night looking after my men. The smell 
from rotting vegetation accumulated for years was almost overpowering as 
we lay in the trenches, but there was not a murmur. The second day's 
fighting was really more exciting than the first, but we had got used to being 
under fire and didn't mind it. Bullets flew about us like hailstones, and 
men fell all around us. We had to cross a couple of creeks, in which we 
waded waist deep against stong currents, and it was at the creek near the 
field hospital that the Spaniards did the most damage. Even our wounded 
and the Red Cross nurses carry disabled men were shot down. 

I want particularly to praise the Twenty-fourth Infantry, colored. 
They did everything in their power to help the Seventy-first boys, and some 
of them even gave up their places aud rations to our men. 



HIGH OLD JINKS AT SANTIAGO. 

By .Sergeant Ouster. 

THAT story about Assistant Surgeon Church, the young Washington 
medico of the Rough Riders, who dressed a fallen man's wound 
away out ahead of the line amid a hail of Mausef bullets, has been 
published, but the coolness of that young fellow wasn't even half 
described. While he was making an examination of his wounded comrade, 
paying no attention to the whistle of the bullets, a young private of the 
Rough Riders, who had been a college mate of Church at Princeton, yelled 
over to him from a distance of about twenty feet — he was with half a dozen 
fellows doing sharpshooters' work from behind a cluster of bushes — to ask 



HIGH OLD JINKS AT SANTIAGO. 



how badly the patient was hurt. The young surgeon looked over his shoul- 
der in the direction whence the private's voice proceeded, and saw his former 
chum grinning in the bushes. 

" Why, you whelp," said Church, with acvunical grin on his face, u how 
dare you be around here and not be killed ! " 

Then he went on fixing the wounded man, and he remained right there 
with him until the arrival of the litter that he had sent to the rear for. 

In my cavalry outfit there was a fellow with whom I soldiered out 
West four or five years ago. He was a crack base ball pitcher, and he would 
rather play ball than eat, any time. He got a Mauser ball plumb through 
the biceps of his right arm early in the engagement. I never saw a man 
so darned mad over a thing in my life. The wound gained him a good deal, 
but it wasn't the pain that hurt so much. I met him at th£ rear after the 
scrap was over. He had tried to go on shooting with his carbine but he 
couldn't make it go with his left hand and arm alone, and so £e had to drop 
back. He was alternately rubbing his arm and scratching hi*> head vhen I 
came across him. 

"Hurt much?" I asked him. 

"Hurt nothing! " said he, scowling like a savage; "but did you ever 

hear of such luck as this, to get plugged right in my pitching arm ? Why the 

devil didn't they get me in the neck, or somewhere else, 

anyhow ? I'll never be able to pitch another game, I'll bet What Made Him 
* r ^ 1 • I *. <. t L \ i So Tarnaf Mad ? 

$2, for these muscles are going to contract when the hole 

heals up," and he went on swearing to beat the band, because the Spaniards 
hadn't let him have it in the neck, or somewhere else. 

One of the fellows in the Rough Riders, an Oklahoma boy, got a ball 
clean through his campaign hat, which was whirled off his head and fell 
about five feet away from him. He picked up the hat, examined it carefully, 
and said : 

4 1 I'll have to patch that up with a sticking plaster, or I'll get my hair 
sunburnt." The fun of it was that his hair was about the reddest I ever saw. 

Roosevelt was some distance ahead of the line during the whole scrap, 
moving up and down with a word here and there to the company and troop 
commanders. One of the Rough Riders from New York rubber-necked 
after Roosevelt a good deal and watched him narrowly, and then he turned 
to one of the men alongside him and said : 

" And yet, by jing, a couple o' years ago we people in New York didn't 
think Teddy knew enough to review a parade o' cops ! " 

There wasn't a single case of the yellows during the entire fracas. 
There wasn't a man that tried to edge behind a fellow in front of him, and 



i2 4 HIGH OI<D JINKS AT SANTlAGOc 

it's a good tiling the skirmish was executed in extended order by direct 
command, for column formation wouldn't have done at all. The men 
would have made it 'extended order, anyhow. They all wanted to be in 
front, the further in front the better. We had to do a good deal of firing 
for general results, on account of the screen from the shelter of which the 
Spaniards fought, but there was some very brave and chesty ducks on the 
other side who stood right out in the open and blazed away at men in our 
line that they picked out deliberately. These nervy Spaniards got plenty 
of credit from our men for their gameness, too. One of them, a young, 
small-looking fellow, stood on a little level plateau, within dead easy range, 
letting us have it as fast as he could, for fully five minutes before he went 
down. If he wasn't simply crazy with the excitement of the game, then he 
surely was about as game a kid as they make 'em. He was noticed by 
about a dozen men near me, and one of them said : 

"That little monkey's too good, and I guess I'll just let him have 
one or two." 

"Ah, let him alone," said another fellow ; " there are 

Sympathy for a SQ few Hke him {n ^ hvLndl Qn ^ other ^ ^ he 

Spaniard who ' . 

Fought Well. ought to have a show for his taw alley." 

The nervy little Spaniard's work became altogether 

too accurate and vicious, however, and we got a volley from about a dozen 

of our men, and he went down in a heap and rolled down the hill from his 

little rock-table like a log. 

While there wasn't a single case of the yellows on our side, it would be 

plain tommy rot to say that none of us was nervous. I was a heap nervous 

for one, and I've been in the outfit a long while, and I heard a lot of the 

roughies say, after the scrap was over, that they saw the gates ajar in a whole 

lot of different colors by the time the action was fully under way. One of 

the roughies, an Illinois fellow, that had to be simply pushed back two or 

three times, he was so eager to break out of the line all by his lonesome and 

go at 'em single-handed, was talking with one of his friends after the firing 

had ceased : 

"I never felt so wabbly in my life," he said, "and it was nothing but 
pure hysterics that kept me going. I had to keep saying to myself all the 
time, 1 Steady, there, old fellow, and see to it that you don't welch,' and 
every time I tussled with a think like this I made a jump forward and got 
out of line. 

One of the Rough Riders from New York, an educated fellow, who'd 
probably had his little whirl at playing the horses when he had nothing else 
to do, said after the fight was over : 



■ HIGH OLD JINKS AT SANTIAGO. 125 

u Holy gee, but that game is decidedly more nerve-sapping than 
dallying with 100 to 1 shots." 

I had often read about men in action dodging bullets out of nervousness, 
but I never took any stock in those stories until this fight. Then I found 
out that it was true. Men do dodge bullets. I caught myself doing it half 
a dozen times, and nearly all the other fellows did it. They didn't dodge 
all the time, but only when the Spaniards were engaging in volley firing. 
When the sound of the volley reached them, although the volley's bullets 
had long passed them, they involuntarily gave little ducks of the head, 
like a man does in a boxing match. They didn't know that they were doing 
it. I called the attention of one of my bunkies, who foUght alongside of 
me, to his imbecile game of ducking his head, and he turned to me and 
said : 

" Why, you jay, I've been watching you do the same thing for the last 
fifteen minutes," and he was right. 

There's a mean kind of a squat cactus growing around the woods down 
there, and the digs of the cactus point fooled a lot of the men into believing 
that they had been pinked in the legs. I saw one of the regulars, a corpo- 
ral, sit down suddenly and rub his left leg down near his foot. 

" Been nipped ?" asked one of his swaddies. 

" Yep, in the ankle," was the reply. 

Then he pulled up his trouser leg, lowered his sock, 
and saw nothing but a little abrasion of the skin, from shot Jn the Ankle 

53 ' by a Cactus Thorn. 

which the blood was trickling. He had struck his ankle 

against a cactus point. He got up suddenly, looked at the cactus for a 

second, and then trampled it into the ground. 

" I won't get fooled that way again," he said. He got a ball in his left 
shoulder later on. 

A lot of the fellows were gagging and whistling and humming during 
the whole thing— not loud, but just loud enough to hear themselves. When 
the firing was the hardest along the left of the line, a half dozen of the 
fellows, I heard afterwards, struck up the coon song, " Get Your Money's 
Worth," and kept it going until another bunch in the same outfit drowned 
'em out with another coon song, " I Don't L,ike No Cheap Man," which 
they twisted into " I Don't L,ike No Cheap Span." 

There were very few of the fellows who were killed who didn't have 
some kind or other of a girl trinket on them when they were laid out in the 
rear. The officers went around and gathered these things together, making 
notes of them on pads which they carried around with them. A good many 
of these lockets and miniatures and little strands of sweethearts' hair were 



126 



HIGH OLD JINKS AT SANTIAGO. 



sent to the people back home of the boys killed, on the dispatch boat 
" Dolphin," that brought me over from Cuba. 

The Spanish soldiers had the bulge on us during the engagement in 
this respect, that they fought without any gear whatever except their rifles 
and ammunition belts. All of their individual belongings, such as knap- 
sacks, haversacks, ponchos, and so on, they left behind them with store- 
keepers, and they didn't have any packing to do during the scrap. A good 
many of the troops on our side fought in practically heavy marching order 
— that is, they went into the fight that way. They didn't all come out that 
way, though. The temperature was something fierce, and the way they 
chucked gear right and left was a caution. Most of them hung on to their 
canteens, though, for water certainly tasted sweet in that 
Difference Between heat Tbe t h rown _ away Rear was nea rly all gathered 
a High and a Low , J s , , i & , . 

Bail. together alter the rumpus was over, and the men got their 

belongings back, and without having anything said to them 
for throwing it away, either. It was funny to hear the talk of some of the 
Rough Riders at mess that night. 

" What I want, and want right now," said one of them to his companions, 
" is twenty-seven Scotch high-balls and a caviare sandwich." 

" Stop your kidding," one of them replied, " you're in luck that you 
didn't get one Spanish low ball." 

One of the boys of Hamilton Fish's outfit sang in a very sweet tenor 
voice " The Vacant Chair," at mess that night. It was enough to choke a 
man up. 

Edward Marshall, that newspaper correspondent who was hit in the 
spine early in the fight, was a game man all right. He was conscious when 
they picked him up. 

" Where did you get it, Marshall ?" he was asked before he was examined. 

" I pass," said he, for he didn't know where he was hit himself, the 
bullet made him so numb. " Any old place from hat to moccasins, I guess." 




PRAISE FROM THE FOH 



PRAISE FROM THE FOE. 



A Tribute From 11,000 Spanish Soldiers. 

IT is very doubtful if the annals of warfare "have ever recorded such a 
document as the farewell address which was presented on August 21 y 
1898, to the American army at Santiago by 11,000 Spanish soldiers on 
the eve of leaving Cuba for their native country. 
This tribute to our gallant boys reads as follows : 
" Soldiers of the American army : 

" We would not be fulfilling our duty as well-born men in whose breasts 
there live gratitude and courtesy should we embark for our beloved Spain 
without sending to you our most cordial and sincere good wishes and fare- 
well. We fought you with ardor, with all our strength, endeavoring to gain 
the victory, but without the slightest rancor or hate toward the American 
nation. We have been vanquished by you (so our generals and chiefs judged 
in signing the capitulation), but our surrender and the bloody battle preced- 
ing it have left in our souls no place for resentment against the men who 
fought us nobly and valiantly. 

" You fought and acted in compliance with the same call of duty as we, 
for we all represent the power of our respective States. You fought us as 
men face to face and with great courage, as before stated, a quality which 
we had not met with during the three years we have carried on this war 
against a people without religion, without morals, without conscience and 
of doubtful origin, who could not confront the enemy, but, hidden, shot their 
noble victims from ambush and then immediately fled. This was the kind 
of warfare we had to sustain in this unfortunate land. 

" You have complied exactly with all the laws and usages of war as 
recognized by the armies of the most civilized nations of the world ; have 
given honorable burial to the dead of the vanquished ; have cured their 
wounded with great humanity ; have respected and cared for your prisoners 
and their comfort ; and, lastly, to us, whose condition was terrible, you have 
given freely of food, of your stock of medicines, and you have honored us 
with distinction and courtesy, for after the fighting the two armies mingled 
with the utmost harmony. 

" With the high sentiment of appreciation from us all, there remains 
but to express our farewell, and with the greatest sincerity we wish you all 
happiness and health in this land, which will no longer belong to our dear 



THE MOST HEROIC ACT OE THE WAR. 



Spain, but will be yours, who have conquered it by force and watered it 
with your blood as your conscience called for, under the demand of civiliza- 
tion and humanity. 

" From 11,000 Spanish soldiers. 

" Pedro Lopez de Castillo, Soldier of Infantry. 

" Santiago de Cuba, August 21 , 1898." 



THE MOST HEROIC ACT OF THE WAR 



True Story of How Hobson Sank the 44 Merrimac." 

THE wars of the nation, from Revolutionary days of '76 to the 
present, are punctuated by deeds of extraordinary courage, but 
history has never recorded a more heroic act than that performed 
by Assistant Naval Constructor Richmond P. Hobson, on the night 
of June 3, at the entrance to Santiago Harbor. Lieutenant Cushing's feat in 
blowing up the Confederate ram " Albemarle," in Albemarle Sound (October 
27, 1864) an d Lieutenant Somer's fatal exploit in destroying a Moorish 
ship in Tripoli Harbor (May 25, 1804), were regarded as being the most 
noteworthy examples of sailor daring in the annals of American seamanship, 
but desperate as were these undertakings, they were not more so than was 
Hobson's dashing attempt of June 3, to block Santiago r s harbor, thereby to 
prevent the escape of Cervera's fleet which was shut within. 

When Rear-Admiral Sampson joined Commodore Schley, the latter had 
already ascertained that it would be impossible for the fleet to crawl into the 
rat hole in which the Spanish fleet had taken refuge. The mines across the 
entrance and the batteries which commanded it made the mere contemplation 
of it an act of folly. Commodore Schley was inclined to think the dynamite 
cruiser " Vesuvius " might be able to countermine, but the ships would have 
to go in single file and if one were sunk in the channel the progress of the 
others would be blocked. It was then that Lieutenant Hobson conceived 
the scheme of sinking a big collier across the harbor entrance and asked to 
be allowed to execute it himself. It seemed certain death and almost certain 
failure, as the odds were overwhelmingly against reaching the entrance 
before discovery ; but Hobson was so enthusiastic that his confidence was 
infectious, and the Admiral finally but yet reluctantly gave his consent. 



DRAGGING A BATTERY \jP THE SLOPES BELOW SIBONEY. 



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SCENE IN THE TURRET OP THE " OLYMPIA " DURING THE BATTLE IN 
MANILA BAY, MAY I, 1898. 




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8 55 
W O 

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OFF FOR THE WAR. 



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THE MOST HEROIC ACT OF THE WAR. 



139 



Lieutenant Hobson's chief anxiety was that in the dark he might miss 

the narrow gut and run on to the shoals at the west of the entrance. To 

prevent possibility of this, the plan of allowing the 

" Merrimac " to run in under the Spanish flag with the ^ A Patriotic 
n -r. 1 r • ill - Sacrifice Under 

fleet in feigned pursuit, firing blank cartridges and blazing Loya| colors. 

the path to the harbor entrance with searchlights, was 

considered, but abandoned, because among other reasons, Lieutenant Hobson 

and his volunteer crew refused to become sacrifices under false colors. They 

wanted to go down and die, if must be, with the Stars and Stripes floating 

proudly from the " Merrimac." 

. When the Admiral's consent was obtained, Lieutenant Hobson became 

impatient of all delay and that very night, Wednesday, after the moon went 

down, he set the time for the attempt. Volunteers were called for on all the 

ships of the fleet, and to the credit of the American navy be it said that few 

flinched. Whole cheering crews stepped forward at the summons for the 

extra hazardous duty. About 300 on board the " New York," some 180 on 

board the " Iowa " and a like proportion from the other ships volunteered, but 

Lieutenant Hobson, decided to risk as few lives as possible. He accordingly 

picked three men from the " New York " and three from the " Merrimac." 

The latter were green in the service, but they knew the ship and pleaded so 

hard to go, that they were accepted. 

Other men, selected from various ships, with Ensign Powell in command, 
manned the launch of the " New York," which was to lie at the harbor 
mouth and take off those who might escape when the " Merrimac " should 
be blown up and sunk. 

The seven men who were to risk their lives in the " Merrimac" were as 
cheerful as schoolboys on a frolic, despite twenty-four hours' sleeplessness and 
hard work. Coxswain Deignan, with professional pride, 
explained the several stations of the forlorn hope crew: Preparations 
J. E. Murphy was to cut loose the forward anchor and AwfuilWork 
Daniel Montague the after one, and they were then to 
jump overboard and swim to the lifeboat which was towing astern. Phil- 
lips, Kelly and Crank were to stop the engines and knock away the King- 
ston valves to flood the hold, and Lieutenant Hobson and Charette were to 
fire the torpedos from the bridge. 

Words cannot paint the cool, matter-of-fact heroism of these enlisted 
men, so calmly confident of success in their audacious undertaking, so 
implicitly " trustful in their young lieutenant who was to lead them, so 
oblivious of everything except the desperate undertaking in which they 
were enthusiastically anxious to engage. They did not speak of coming 



THE MOST HEROIC ACT OF THE WAR. 



out, with the exception of Deignan, who said nonchalantly, " Oh, I guess we 
stand a fair show of getting out, but they can't stop us going in," this last 
in a most matter-of-fact style, as though going in was the only point worth 
considering. So it was to them. This was everyday heroism, heroism in 
overalls, black with oil and coal dust from ankle to eyebrow. 

Lieutenant Hobson, despite his uniform, was almost as dirty and dis- 
hevelled as his men, with forty-eight hours' growth of beard, eyes sunken 
for lack of food and sleep, and hands as black as a coal heaver's, but the 
hands were cool and firm in their grasp, as though he were going on parade 
and nothing could dull the fire of those sunken hazel eyes. Reserved, but 
courteous even to gentleness, he talked briefly of his plans. He spoke as 
his men had spoken — of going in, nothing of coming back, except this, just 
at parting : " Now, pardon me, but in case you gentlemen write about this 
expedition, please don't say anything individually about its members until 
you know." He accented the last word and the inference was known — until 
you know we are dead, would have filled out the sentence. 

A few hours before the departure a young officer from the " Marblehead " 
came on board the " Merrimac " and asked : 

" Shall we send you fellows over some breakfast ? We would be delighted 
and can do it just as well as not." 

"Nevei mind about the breakfast, old man," responded Lieutenant 
Hobson, " but if you can send some coffee we would be very glad. You see 
we are swept pretty clean here, and none of us have had a drop of coffee 
since day before yesterday." 

It was a trivial incident, but coining from a man doomed almost to 
certain death, it seemed to add the last touch of the pathetic "lo a situation 
heartbreaking enough in itself. 

Before Hobson set the old collier ship towards the harbor entrance, he 
made every necessary preparation for sinking the vessel quickly when she 
should be brought within the proper position for effectively obstructing the 
channel. The " Merrimac " was an old, almost unseaworthy craft, fit for 
little service, without being constantly repaired, but she was bulky, and 
composed of material that would render her wieck a dangerous menace to 
ships trying to pass the narrow entrance. To destroy her quickly, however, 
was a problem, which Hobson prepared to solve by lashing ten powerful 
torpedoes by means of hog chains along the port side of the ship, below the 
water line, all of which were connected by electric wire to be fired simul- 
taneously by a battery located on the bridge. By such provision it was 
calculated that the entire port side might be torn out instantly, and by open- 
ing the sea cocks the vessel would sink in about one minute. Chances of 



THE MOST HEROIC ACT OF THE WAR. 



131 



escape, small as they would be, were taken by mooring a dingy at the stern 
of the ship into which the men were to lower themselves, in case any of them 
should be so fortunate as to survive the enemy's fire and the vessel's explo- 
sion, a contingency which seemed extremely remote. 

On board the ships of the fleet picketed about the entrance, every officer 
and man, with many warm heart-beats for their brave comrades, awaited the 
issue with eyes anxiously fixed on the jutting headlands that marked the 
entrance of the harbor, but as the " Merrimac " steamed 
forward Admiral Sampson, pacing the deck of the flagship, Breathless With 
looked at his watch and at the streaks in the east and ^^'Jh^hc^/part 
decided that the " Merrimac " could not reach the entrance U re. 
before broad daylight. Consequently, the torpedo boat 
" Porter," which was alongside, was dispatched to recall the daring officer. 
Lieutenant Hobson sent back a protest, with a request for permission to 
proceed. But the admiral declined to allow him to take the risk, and slowly 
the u Merrimac " swung about and returned to her anchorage. When the 
vessel was boarded by officers from the " New York," discovery was made 
that there were two men on the " Merrimac " who were not properly detailed 
from the volunteers for the daring enterprise. 

They were Assistant Engineer Crank, of the " Merrimac," and Boatswain 
Mullin, of the " New York," who had been working on the collier all day. 
These two men refused to leave the ship, and, as their disobedience was of a 
nature which produced Cushings and Farraguts for the American navy, it 
was not officially recognized. The spirit shown by the men and officers of 
the fleet in connection with the " Merrimac " expedition was really grand 
and beyond being expressed in words. 

During the day Lieutenant Hobson went aboard the flagship. His once 
white duck trousers were as black as a coal heaver's, his old fatigue coat was 
unbuttoned and his begrimed face was deep furrowed by tense drawn lines, 
but steady resolution still shone in his eyes. So absorbed was he in the task 
ahead of him, that unmindful of his appearance, and of all ceremony and 
naval etiquette, he told the Admiral in a tone of command that he must not 
again be interfered with. 

" I can carry this thing through," said he, " but there must be no more 
recalls. My men have been keyed urj for twenty four hours and tinder a 
tremendous strain. Iron will break at last." Such was the indomitable will 
and courage with which he faced death and glory. 

When Hobson left the ship, and the extended hands of his shipmates, 
more than one of the latter turned hastily to hide the unbidden tear. But 
the lieutenant waved them adieu with a smile on his handsome face. 



132 



THE MOST HEROIC ACT OF THE WAR. 



The " Merrimac " made her second start shortly after three o'clock a. m. 
The full moon had disappeared behind a black cloud bank in the west, 
leaving only a gray mark of heaving waters and the dim outline of the 
Cuban hills showing against the unstarred sky to the watchers on board the 
ships of the fleet. It was that calm hour before dawn, when life is at its 
lowest ebb and the tide runs out, carrying the lives of mortals with it. 

Slowly the seconds of fate ticked on, as for an hour three thousand 
strained eyes strove to pierce the deep veil of night. 

Suddenly several blood red tongues of flame shot down from the rocky 
eminence on which Monro Castle is situated. They were followed by jets 
and streams of fire from the batteries opposite. The 
a f*i % C " Merrimac " had reached the entrance of the harbor. 

battle buns. 

She must have passed so close that a stone loosened from 
the frowning parapet of the castle would have fallen on her deck. 

Into the murderous hail showered down on her, the " Merrimac " passed 
and moved on, a full quarter of a mile, enfiladed from both sides, and from 
the rear and front with a plunging fire from the batteries that surrounded 
her. It seems a miracle that her apparently riddled hull could have reached 
the goal. After five minutes the firing ceased and all became dark again. 

Then among the watchers of the fleet arose the question as to whether 
these five minutes of murder had left grief-stricken mothers or widows or 
orphans. Mother, wife, sister or sweetheart might even then be dreaming 
of her loved one, all unconscious of the fact that the object of her dream 
was earning fame, perhaps with his life. 

During the next half hour, while the fleet silently waited in suspense 
for the coming of the day, many fingers itched at the lanyards of the guns 
and many a gunner's mate besought permission to fire. But nothing could 
be done. An ill-directed shot might kill our men, possibly struggling in 
the water toward the open sea. 

Meantime the tension aboard the flagship was intense. Ensign Powell 
had reported that he had clearly seen the "Merrimac's " masts sticking up 
just where Hobson hoped to sink her, but of the heroes who had penned 
the Spaniards in there was not a sound or a sign. Rear-Admiral Sampson 
said he believed Hobson would have a fair chance to escape after his hazard- 
ous and extremly plucky adventure, which he felt sure had been successful. 
He expressed the hope that all those brave fellows had not lost their lives. 

Under such circumstances, no one can imagine the 

Safe Out or the { mmense feeling of satisfaction experienced when it became 
Jaws of Death. s r 

known that Hobson and the crew of the " Merrimac " 

were safe. Eater in the day a boat with a white flag put out from th« 



THE MOST HEROIC ACT OF THE WAR. 



i33 



harbor and Captain Oviedo, the chief of staff of Admiral Cervera, boarded 
the " New York " and informed the admiral, that the whole party had been 
captured and that only two of the heroes were injured. Lieutenant Hobson 
was not hurt. The Spanish admiral was so struck with the courage of the 
a Merrimac's " crew that he decided to inform Admiral Sampson that they 
had not lost their lives, but were prisoners of war and could be exchanged. 
* They were captured and sent to Santiago under guard, previous to being 
transferred to Morro Castle, where they were confined until exchanged for 
Spanish officers one month later (July 5). 

Particulars of the escape from the most imminent peril were not fully 
learned until Hobson and his men returned to the American lines, after their 
exchange, although many stories were told, chiefly based on Spanish reports, 
all alike highly creditable to the almost unparalleled courage of the heroic 
seven. 

When the torpedoes were exploded by Hobson the ship was so rent 
that she dove quickly to the depths. None of the seven men were injured, 
but when they sought the dingy they found it had been shot to pieces by 
the terrific fire from the shore batteries. The only means at hand for escape 
now lay in a catamaran carried on the deck, which was hastily cast over- 
board, and the men jumped after it as the ship sank beneath them. The 
Spaniards continued their fire for a few minutes after the seven heroes had 
mounted the raft, and balls of many calibres fell about them like hail, but 
Providence guarded their precious lives. The Spanish officers were so 
amazed by such astonishing daring that with chivalrous spirit they ordered 
the firing to cease and even sent boats to help the men ashore, where they 
were received by the enemy with a magnanimous welcome, and as prisoners 
were accorded the most generous treatment. 

The names and antecedents of the gallant sailors who composed the 
crew that with Hobson defied the very jaws of death, deserve to be imperish- 
ably remembered by a grateful country. They were : 

George Chare tte, first-class gunner's mate on the " New York"; born in 
Lowell, Mass., twenty-nine years of age ; last enlistment May 20, 1898 ; has 
been in the service since 1884 ; his next of kin is Alexander Charette, father, 
Lowell, Mass. 

Osborne Deignan, coxswain on the " Merrimac "; born in Stuart, la., 
twenty-one years old; last enlistment April 22, 1898; next of kin, Julia 
Deignan, mother, Stuart, la. 

George F. Phillips, machinist on the " Merrimac born in Boston, 
thirty-four years old ; last enlistment March 30, 1898 ; next of kin, Andrew 
Phillips, Cambridgeport, Mass. 



134 HOW HOBSON AND HIS MEN WERE SAVED BY CERVERA. 



Francis Kelly, water-tender on the 41 Merrimac born in Boston, twenty* 
eight years of age; enlisted at Norfolk, April 21, last; next of kin, Francis 
Kelly, Boston. 

Randolph Clausen, coxswain on the " New York "; born in Boston and 
twenty-eight years of age ; last enlistment February 25, 1897 ; next of kin, 
Terresa Clausen, wife, 127 Cherry street, New York. 

Daniel Montague, seaman, of the armored cruiser " Brooklyn." 

John C. Murphy, coxswain, of the battleship "Iowa." 



HOW HOBSON AND HIS MEN WERE SAVED BY CERVERA. 



Thrilling Narrative of the Hero of Events Immediately Following the 
Sinking of the " Merrimac." 

BY 



IT was dark when we started in toward the strait, and it was darker when 
we got the ship into position. We all knew that we were taking des- 
perate chances, and in order to be unencumbered when we got into the 
water, we stripped down to our underclothing. 

The ship gave a heave when the charges exploded, and as she sank 
with a lurch at the bow we got over her sides. That we got into the water 
is nearly all we know of what happened in that rather brief period. Some 
sprang over the ship's side, but more than one of us was thrown over the 
rail by the shock and the lurching of the ship. 

It was our plan to escape on a catamaran float which lay on the roof 
of the midship house. One of the greatest dangers of the thing was that 
of being caught in the suction made by the ship as she 

The Plan of Escape. . . 

went down, so we tied the float to the taffrail, giving it 
slack line enough, as we thought, to let it float loose after the ship had 
settled into her resting place. 

I swam away from the ship as soon as I struck the water, but I could 
feel the eddies drawing me backward in spite of all I could do. . That did 
not last very long, however, and as soon as I felt the tugging ease I turned 



HOW HOBSON AND HIS MEN WERE SAVED BY CERVERA. 135 



and struck out for the float, which I could see dimly bobbing up and down 
over the sunken hull. 

The " Merrimac's " masts were plainly visible, and I could see the heads 
of my seven men as they followed my example and made for the float also. 
We had expected, of course, that the Spaniards would investigate the wreck, 
but we had no idea they would be at it so quickly as they were. 

Before we could get to the float several rowboats and launches came 
around the bluff from inside the harbor. They had officers on board and 
armed marines as well, and they searched that passage, rowing backward 
and forward until the next morning. It was only by good luck that we got 
to the float at all, for they were upon us so quickly that we had barely con- 
cealed ourselves when a boat with quite a large party on board was right 
beside us. 

Unfortunately we thought then, but it turned out afterward that nothing 
more fortunate than that could have happened for us, the 
rope with which we had secured the float to the ship was ^Hjdf^g " 
too short to allow it to swing free, and when we reached it 
we found that one of the pontoons was entirely out of the water and the other 
one was submerged. 

Had the raft lain flat on the water we could not have got under it and 
would have had to climb up on it, to be an excellent target for the first party 
of marines that arrived. As it was, we could get under the raft, and by 
putting our hands through the crevices between the slats which formed its 
deck we could hold our heads out of water, and still be unseen. That is 
what we did, and all night long we stayed there with our noses and mouths 
barely out of water. 

None of us expected to get out of the affair alive, but luckily the 
Spaniards did not think of the apparently damaged, half-sunken raft floating 
about beside the wreck. They came within a cable's length of us at intervals 
of only a few minutes all night. We could hear their words distinctly, and 
even in the darkness could distinguish an occasional slint of light on the 
rifle barrels of the marines and on the lace of the officers' uniforms. 

We were afraid to speak above a whisper, and for a good while, in fact 
whenever they were near us, we breathed as easily as we could. I ordered 
my men not to speak unless to address me, and with one exception they 
obeyed. 

After we had been there an hour or two the water, which we found 
rather warm at first, began to get cold, and my fingers ached where the 
wood was pressing into them. The clouds, which were running before a 
pretty stiff breeze when we went in, blew over, and then by the starlight we 



136 HOW HOBSON AND HIS MEN WERE SAVED BY CERVERA. 



could see the boats when they came out of the shadows of the cliffs on either 
side, and even when we could not see them we knew that they were still 
near, because we could hear very plainly the splash of the oars and the 
grinding of the oarlocks. 

Our teeth began to chatter before very long, and I was in constant fear 
that the Spaniards would hear us when they came close. It was so still then 
that the chattering sound seemed to us as loud as a ham- 
Noisy Teeth mer, but the Spaniards' ears were not sharp enough to 
Chattering. hear it. 

We could hear sounds from the shore almost as dis- 
tinctly as if we had been there, we were so close to the surface of the water, 
which is an excellent conductor, and the voices of the men ii^ the boats 
sounded as clear as a bell. My men tried to keep their teeth still, but it was 
hard work, and not attended with any great success at the best. 

We all knew that we would be shot if discovered by an ordinary seaman 
or a marine, and I ordered my men not to stir, as the boats having officers on 
board kept well in the distance. One of my men disobeyed orders and 
started to swim ashore, and I had to call him back. He obeyed at once, but 
my voice seemed to create some commotion among the boats, and several of 
them appeared close beside us before the disturbance in the water made by 
the man swimming had subsided. We thought it was all up with us then, 
but the boats went away into the shadows again. 

There was much speculation among the Spaniards as to what the ship 
was and what we intended to do next. I could understand many of the 
words, and gathered from what I heard that the officers had taken in the 
situation at once, but were astounded at the audacity of the thing. The 
boats, I also learned, were from the fleet, and I felt better, because I had 
more faith in a Spanish sailor than I had in a Spanish soldier. 

When daylight came a steam launch full of officers and marines came 
out from behind the cliff that hid the fleet and harbor and advanced toward 
us. All the men on board were looking curiously in our direction. They 
did not see us. Knowing that some one of rank must be on board, I waited 
until the launch was quite close and hailed her. 

My voice produced the utmost consternation on board. Every one 
sprang up, the marines crowded to the bow and the launch's engines were 
reversed. She not only stopped, but she backed off until nearly a quarter 
of a mile away, where she stayed. The marines stood ready to fire at the 
word of command, when we clambered out from under the float. There 
were ten of the marines, and they would have fired in a minute had they 
not been restrained. 



HOW HOBSON AND HIS MEN WERE SAVED BY CERVERA. 137 

I swam toward the launch, and then she started toward me. I called 
®ut in Spanish : " Is there an officer on board?" An officer answered in 
the affirmative , and then I shouted in Spanish again : " I 
have seven men to surrender." I continued swimming, Rescued by 
and when I reached the side of the launch I was seized Admiral Cervera. 
and pulled out of the water. 

As I looked up when they were dragging me into the launch, I saw 
that it was Admiral Cervera himself who had hold of me. He looked at 
me* rather dubiously at first, because I had been down in the engine-room of 
the " Merrimac," where I got covered with oil, and that, with the soot and 
coal dust, made my appearance most disreputable. I had put on my officer's 
belt before sinking the "Merrimac," as a means of identification, no matter 
what happened to me, and when I pointed to it in the launch the admiral 
understood and seemed satisfied. 

The first words he said to me when he learned who I was were " Blen- 
venido sea usted," which means, " You are welcome." My treatment by the 
naval officers and that of my men also was courteous all the time that I was 
a prisoner. They heard my story, as much of it as I could tell, but sought 
to learn nothing more. 

My men were rescued from the float and taken to the shore and we were 
all placed in a cell in Monro Castle. I asked permission to send a note to 
Admiral Sampson and wrote it, but when Admiral Cervera learned of it he 
came to me and said that General Linares would not permit me to send it. 

The admiral seemed greatly worried, but it was not until a day or two 
later that I learned what was on his mind. That same day he said he 
would send a boat to the fleet to get clothes for us, and that the men who 
went in the boat could tell Admiral Sampson that we were safe. 

I learned later that General Linares was inclined to be ugly, and that 
Admiral Cervera wished to get word to our fleet as soon as possible that we 
were safe, knowing then that General Linares would learn that the fleet 
knew it, and he would not dare to harm us. 

When we were first placed in Morro the solid doors to our cells were 
kept closed for an hour or two, but when we objected to that the admiral 
ordered that they be thrown open. Then we had a view 
of Santiago harbor, the city and the Spanish fleet. All f^mii^-ll 
the officers of the army and fleet called on us that day, and 
their treatment of us was most considerate and courteous. General Linares 
did not call*, but sent word that as all the others had called, he thought that 
a visit from him was not included in his duties. I do not know what he 
meant by that v but am sure that we do not owe our safety to him. 



138 HOW HOBSON AND HIS MEN WERE SAVED BY CERVERA. 



We were still in Morro Castle when Admiral Sampson's fleet bombarded 
Santiago. The windows in the side of our cell opened west across the har- 
bor entrance, and we could hear and see the shells as they struck. We knew 
that we would not be fired upon, as word had gone out as to where we were, 
so we sat at the window and watched the shells. Each one sung a different 
tune as it went by. The smaller shells moaned or screeched as they passed, 
but the thirteen-inch shells left a sound behind them like that of a sudden 
and continued smashing of a huge pane of glass. 

The crackling was sharp and metallic, something like sharp thunder 
without the roar, and the sound continued, but decreased after the shell had 
gone. In many cases the shells struck projecting points of rock, and rico- 
cheting, spun end over end across the hills. The sound they made as they 
struck again and again was like the short, sharp puff of a locomotive start- 
ing with a heav} train. 

We were in Morro Castle four days, and only once did 
Owe All j f ee j a i arrne d # The d a y before we were taken into the 

to Ccrvera. J 

city of Santiago I saw a small boat start from the harbor 
with a flag of truce up. When I asked one of the sentries what it meant 
I was told that the boat had gone out to tell our fleet that my men and I had 
already been taken into the city. Then I feared that Morro would be bom- 
barded at once, and believed it a scheme got up by General Linares to end 
us. We were taken to the city the next day, and were safe, anyway, then. 

In the city we were treated with the same consideration by the naval 
officers and the army officers, with the exception of General Linares, which 
we got on the day of our capture. I believe that we owe to Admiral Cer- 
vera our exchange, and a great deal more in the way of good treatment that 
we would not otherwise have received. General Linares had no good blood 
for us, nor did the soldiers and marines, who would have shot us on sight the 
night that we went into the harbor. 



WAITING TO RESCUE HOBSON. 



WAITING TO RESCUE HOBSON. 



Ensign Powell's Efforts to Succor the Heroes. 

HOBSON'S desperate plan to block the entrance to Santiago harbor, 
by sinking the " Merrimac " in the channel, became known to 1he 
crews of the blockading fleet almost as soon as the perilous enter- 
prise was decided upon. Only Hobson and his seven compatriots 
were permitted to proceed upon this extra hazardous undertaking, but there 
was at least one other who resolved to share the dangers, and to offer such 
assistance as the exigencies and results of the exploit might permit. At 
his urgent entreaty, George W. Powell, an ensign on the flagship " New 
York," was given permission to take the ship's steam launch, and with five 
equally courageous men they followed the " Merrimac " as far as practicable 
and then at sunset took position beyond the linesof blockade, and waited the 
approach of darkness. 

Suddenly a dazzling flash, like a heliograph leaped from the battlements 
followed by a slow spreading cloud of white smoke. There was no report, 
but far up the coast a white jet of spray leaped from the sea. 

The spraying shells rose everywhere, beyond the " Brooklyn " and inside 
the " Texas," but the fire was seemingly concentrated westward, close to 
the shore. There a tiny thread of smoke disclosed their target, the " New 
York's " launch, which Ensign Powell had gallantly held close under Monro's 
walls until after daylight, when, driven out by the fire of the big guns, he 
had run far up the shore, under the partial cover of the bluffs, and had 
turned and eventually boarded the " Texas " out of range. Then he passed 
to the " New York." The brave fellow was broken-hearted at not finding 
Hobson and his men. 

Lying closer in than the warships, Powell had seen the firing before 
daylight, when the " Merrimac " and her dare-devil crew, then well inside 
Morro Castle, were probably first discovered by the Spaniards. He also heard 
an explosion, which may have been caused by Hobson's torpedoes. The 
ensign was not sure. He waited, vainly hoping to rescue the heroes of the 
"Merrimac," until he was shelled out by the forts. 

The fleet, seeing- the launch return, crowded close in shore to learn the 
news, and, learning it, went in closer still, hoping to draw the Spanish fire, 
but the forts remained silent. Inside the hills, enclosing the harbor, could 



WAITING TO RESCUE HOBSON, 



be seen a dense column of moving smoke, as at least one Spanish vessel 
moved down the tortuous channel to the harbor's mouth. She did not 
show beyond Cayo Smith while the " Dauntless " remained in sight. Beyond 
that her way was blocked by the " Merrimac's " hulk, sunk just where Hob- 
son promised, crosswise of the narrow channel. v 

Ensign Powell tells the following thrilling story of his dangerous vigil 
for Hobson's heroes : 

" After leaving the ' Texas ' I saw the ' Merrimac ' steaming slowly in. 

It was only fairly dark then and the shore was quite visible. We followed 

about three-quarters of a mile astern. The " Merrimac " stood about a mile 

to the westward of the harbor and seemed a bit mixed, 

Under the turning completely around ; finally heading: to the east, 
Grim Batteries , & , , , • TTT , * • 

cf the Morro. sne ran down and then turned m. We were then chasing 

him because I thought Hobson had lost his bearings. 
When Hobson was about two hundred yards from the harbor the first gun 
was fired from the eastern bluff. We were then half a mile off shore, close 
under the batteries. The firing increased rapidly. We steamed in slowly 
and lost sight of the ' Merrimac ' in the smoke which the wind carried off 
shore. It hung heavily. Before Hobson could have blown up the ' Merri- 
mac ' the western battery picked us up and commenced firing. They shot 
wild and we ran in still closer to the shore and the gunners lost sight of us. 
Then we heard the explosion of the torpedoes on the ' Merrimac' 

" Until daylight we waited just outside the breakers, half a mile to the 
westward of Morro, keeping a bright outlook for the boat or for swimmers, 
but we saw nothing. Hobsoirhad arranged to meet us at that point, but, 
thinking that some one might have drifted out, we crossed in front of Morro 
and the mouth of the harbor to the eastward. About five o'clock we crossed 
the harbor again within a quarter of a mile and stood to the westward. In 
passing we saw one spar of the ' Merrimac ' sticking out of the water. We 
hugged the shore just outside of the breakers for a mile and then turned 
toward the ' Texas,' when the batteries saw us and opened fire. 

" It was then broad daylight. The first shot fired dropped thirty yards 
astern, but the other shots went wild. I drove the launch for all she was 
worth, finally making the ' New York' without our boat or crew having 
received a scratch." 



SINKING OF THE " MERRIMAC." 141 

SINKING OF THE "MERRIMAC" UNDER A FUSILADE OF 

SPANISH GUNS. 

By 

{Assistant Naval Constructor.) 

THE story of how the collier " Merrimac " was sunk at the entrance 
to Santiago harbor on the night of June 3, 1898, has been told by 
me in another article, but so many interesting incidents character- 
ize the act that many accounts may be written without tedious 
iteration, or the dullness of repetition. 

When our preparations w T ere completed for entering upon our perilous 
indertaking I started the " Merrimac " upon a due east course until I got 
my bearings and then headed straight for the harbor. As we approached 
the mouth, moving at a ten knot speed, the Spanish batteries opened a 
terrific fire. It was grand, flashing out first from one side of the harbor and 
then from the other, from those big guns on the hills, the " Vizcaya," lying 
inside the harbor, joining in. 

Troops from Santiago had rushed down when the news of the " Merri- 
mac's " coming was telegraphed, and soon lined the foot of the cliffs, shoot- 
ing wildly across and killing each other with the cross fire. The " Merri- 
mac's " steering gear broke as she got to Estrella Point. 

Only three of the ten torpedos on her side exploded when I touched 
the button. A huge submarine mine caught her full 
amidships, hurling the water high in the air and tearing * U *^™\i\er 
a great rent in the " Merrimac's " side. Her stern ran upon 
Estrella Point. Chiefly owing to the work done by the mine she began to 
sink slowly. At that time she was across the channel, but before she settled 
the tide drifted her around. We were all aft, lying on the deck. Shells and 
bullets whistled around. Six-inch shells from the " Vizcaya " came tearing 
into the" Merrimac," crashing into wood and iron and passing clear through, 
while the plunging shots from the fort broke through her decks. 

" No man must move," I said, and it was owing only to the splendid 
discipline of the men that we all were not killed, as the shells rained over 
us and minutes became hours of suspense. The men's mouths grew 
parched, but we must lie there till daylight, I told them. Now and again, 



142 



SINKING OF THE "MERRIMACK 



one or the other of the men lying with his face glued to the deck and won- 
dering whether the next shell would not come our way would say : ' Hadn't 
we better drop off now, sir?" but I said : "Wait till daylight." 

It would have been impossible to get the catamaran anywhere but to 
the shore, where the soldiers stood shooting, and I hoped that by daylight 
we might be recognized and saved. The grand old 
^Under^re^ " Merrimac " kept sinking. I wanted to go forward and 
see the damage done there, where nearly all the fire was 
directed, but one man said that if I rose it would draw all the fire on the 
rest. So I lay motionless. It was splendid the way these men behaved. 
The fire of the soldiers, the batteries and the " Vizcaya" was awful. When 
the water came up on the " Merrimac's " decks, the catamaran floated amid 
the wreckage, but she was still made fast to the boom, and we caught hold 
of the edge and clung on, our heads only being above water. One man 
thought we were safer right there. It was quite light. The firing had ceased 
except that on the "New York " launch, and I feared Ensign Powell and 
his men had been killed. 

A Spanish launch came toward the " Merrimac." We agreed to capture 
her and run. Just as it came close the Spaniards saw us, and half a dozen 
marines jumped up and pointed their rifles at our heads. " Is there any 
officer in that boat to receive a surrender of prisoners of war ? " I shouted. 
An old man leaned out under the awning and waved his hand. It was 
Admiral Cervera. The marines lowered their rifles and we were helped into 
the launch. Then we were taken ashore and put in cells in Morro Castle. 

It was a grand sight a few days later to see the bombard- 
Witnessed Two t ^ shells striking and bursting around El Morro. 
Great Attacks. _ ' f _ . s T , , t 

Then we were taken into Santiago. I had the court- 
martial room in the barracks. - My men were kept prisoners in the hospital. 
From my window I could see the army moving, and it was terrible to 
watch those poor lads charging across the open, and being shot down by the 
Spaniards in the rifle pits in front of me. 

On July 5, 1 knew something was coming, which to our joy proved to be 
preparations for our exchange, which was made on the following day. 



THE GREAT SEA BATTLES OUR NAVY HAS WON. 



THE GREAT SEA BATTLES OUR NAVY HAS WON. 



And the Honors the Nation Bestowed on the Victors. 

By J. W. BuELo 

SCHLEY, Hobson, Sampson, Wainwright, Evans, Philips, Sigsbee, and 
others of the returned naval heroes, have been made the recipients 
of unconfined demonstrations and magnificent ovations from their 
grateful and admiring countrymen, and when Dewey reaches Ameri- 
can shores he will have such a welcome as was probably never accorded any 
officer who has carried Old Glory to victory on the sea. But it has ever been 
characteristic of Americans to appreciate the gallantry and sacrifices of their 
soldiers and sailors, by according them enthusiastic reception and unbounded 
praise. Some notable examples of popular outpouring and generous feting 
in honor of the heroes who commanded our ships are of particular interest 
at this time, as historical precedents for our enthusiastic admiration for the 
heroes of the Spanish-American war. 

One of the greatest sea captains our country has produced was Commo- 
dore Isaac Hull, who commanded the frigate " Constitution, " in the war of 
1 812. Hull's great achievement was the capture of the " Guerriere," on 
the 19th of August, 1812, off Nova Scotia. He sighted the " Guerriere" 
on the afternoon of that day, and began firing at long range. At six o'clock, 
Hull, observing a willingness on the part of his antagonists to have a fair 
yard-arm and yard-arm fight pressed all sail on the " Constitution " to get 
alongside of the " Guerriere." He walked the quarter deck, watching the 
movements of the enemy with keen interest. He was fat and wore very 
tight breeches. 

When the " Guerriere " began to pour shot into the " Constitution," Lieu- 
tenant Morris, Hull's second in command, asked, " Shall I open fire?" The 
commander replied quietly, " Not yet." As the shots began to tell seriously 
on the " Constitution " the question was repeated. " Not yet," Hull quietly 
answered. When the two vessels were in pistol shot of each other Hull bent 
himself double and shouted, " Now, boys, pour it into them !" The battle 
was fought at close range, and so desperately that the deadly fire of our 
gunners soon riddled the sides and decks of the " Guerriere," killing h^nJLeds 
of her men and compelling an unconditional surrender. 



144 THE GREAT SEA BATTLES OUR NAVY HAS WON. 



The " Constitution " bore the news of her own victory into Boston. 
Hull was received in that city with enthusiasm that was unbounded and 
that rendered to the victor extraordinary honors. The 
H °Rccch!cd' aS P e °pl e °f Boston gave Hull and his officers a banquet, at 
which six hundred citizens sat down. The authorities of 
New York city voted him the freedom of that city in a gold box, and every 
place he visited the people turned out en masse to welcome him. The 
citizens of Philadelphia presented him an elegant piece of plate, and Con- 
gress awarded him a gold medal and appropriated $50,000 to be distributed 
as prize money among the officers and crew of the " Constitution." 

Captain William Bainbridge, who succeeded Hull in command of the 
" Constitution," was likewise honored by the city of New York for the 
brilliant victory he achieved December 29, 181 2, over the British frigate 
u Java," Captain Lambert commanding, one of the finest vessels of her class 
in the Royal Navy. About two o'clock in the afternoon the two ships 
joined in battle, which continued between two and three hours. The "Java " 
tried to run down on the " Constitution's " quarter to engage in close 
action, but failed to successfully carry out the manoeuvre. As she turned 
the " Constitution" poured a raking broadside into the stern of her enemy, 
and very soon the two vessels laid broadside to broadside engaged in deadly 
conflict. The mizzenmast of the "Java" was shot away, and nothing was 
left standing but her mainmast, with its yard carried away. Her firing 
ceased and her captain ordered her colors to be hauled down. 

After the surrender it was found that the "Java" had lost one hundred 
killed, including her commander, and two hundred wounded, and the ship 
was so badly injured that finding it impossible to take her into port, Captain 
Bainbridge ordered her to be blown up. The loss of the " Constitution " 
was only thirty-four. Captain Bainbridge's victory was the fourth brilliant 
success over the British won by the American Navy in the space of five 
months. 

Bainbridge was the hero of the hour. Praises were lavished upon him 
from all quarters. New York and Albany led the van by each presenting 
him with the freedom of the city in a gold box. Banquets 
Captain Bainbridge s an( ^ receptions were prepared for him, t and he had all he 
could do to keep pace with the large generosity of his 
myriad friends. The citizens of Philadelphia presented him with a hand- 
some service of plate, and Congress voted him a gold medal and also $50,000 
as prize money for himself and his companions. 

Going back a little, to the year of 1799, we find that the world at that 
time rang with the praises of Commodore Truxton, who, while in command 



THE GREAT SEA BATTLES OUR NAVY HAS WON. 



of the frigate " Constellation," fell in with and captured the famous French 
frigate " L'Insurgente," of forty-four guns and 409 men, off the island of 
Nevis, in the West Indies. 

For this victory Truxton not only received the praises of his own 
countrymen, but the English press teemed with eulogies of him. Many 
congratulatory addresses were sent to him, and the merchants of London 
gave him a service of silver plate worth more than $3,000, on which was 
engraved a picture of the battle. In the beginning of February, 1800, 
Truxton and the " Constellation " gained a victory over the French frigate 
" La Vengeance," of fifty-four guns and 500 men. In consequence of the 
falling of the mainmast of the " Constellation " the " Vengeance " escaped, 
but this did not detract from the glory of Truxton's victory, and Congress 
awarded him a gold medal for his exploits. Again the city of New York 
came to the front and presented the gallant commander the freedom of the 
city in a gold box. 

No American naval commander ever received more splendid honors 

from the hands of his fellow citizens or more richly deserved them than 

John Paul Jones, who sailed as first lieutenant with Esek 

Hopkins, first commander-in-chief of the Continental Navy. Hor " age for J ohfl 
r ' J Paul Jones. 

Jones was always successful, and became a terror to the 

English mind, so much so that historians of that day speak of him as 
" pirate" and "corsair.'* In the middle of August, 1779, the French 
monarch and the American commissioners joined in sending Paul Jones 
with five vessels to the coast of Scotland. His flagship was the " Bon- 
Homme Richard." Late in September, while the squadron lay a few leagues 
north of the mouth of the Humber, he discovered the Baltic fleet, convoyed 
by three battleships, stretching seaward from behind Flamborough Head. 
At seven o'clock Jones was within musket shot of the " Serapis," the flag- 
ship of the British fleet, when one of the most desperate naval fights ever 
recorded began. There was little wind, and the vessels drifted together so 
that their spars and rigging became entangled. Jones at the head of his 
men attempted to board the u Serapis,' ' but after a short fight with pike, 
pistol and cutlass he was obliged to retreat. Captain Pearson, of the 
u Serapis," who could not see the American ensign through the smoke, called 
out, " Has your flag been struck?" Jones shouted back, " I have not begun 
to fight yet !" 

Then the vessels separated and the wind brought them broadside to 
broadside, the muzzles of the guns touching each other. Jones lashed them 
together, and in that close embrace they poured volleys into each other with 
dreadful effect, while from deck to deck fighting hosts rushed madly over 
10 



i4<$ THE GREAT SEA BATTLES OUR NAVY HAS WON. 



each other. Presently the " Richard " began to sink. Her ten greater guns 
were silenced and only three 9-pounders kept up the firing. The marines 
in the round-top of the " Richard," however, kept up a steady fire upon the 
Englishman below, while ignited combustibles were scattered over the 
British ship. Presently both ships caught fire and the scene was both 
appalling and magnificent, for it was a beautiful sight, with a full 
moon an hour high. In the midst of smoke and flame men fought 
like demons in a hand-to-hand conflict for the mastery. Some one on board 
the " Richard" cried, "The ship is sinking!" A frightened gunner who 
ran to pull down the flag was silenced by a blow from a discharged pistol 
which Jones hurled at his head. After raging for three hours, the battle 
ceased, because fire was consuming both ships. The "Richard" sank and 
her crew were transferred to the " Serapis." 

By this achievement Jones' fame spread throughout the civilized world. 
The French monarch gave him an elegant gold-mounted sword, bearing on its 
blade the words, "Louis XVI., Rewarder of the Valiant 
Honored by other ^sserter of the Freedom of the Sea," and also the Grand 

Nations First. ' 

Cross of the order of Military Merit, never before given to 
a foreigner. From Denmark he received marks of distinc- 
tion and attention. His own country was slowest in coming to the front, and 
it was not until eight years afterward that Congress voted him a gold medal. 

Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry was the recipient of extraordinary 
honors at the hands of his fellow citizens, in recognition of his brilliant 
victory over the British fleet in Lake Erie on 181 3. Perry had nine vessels 
in his squadron, and the British commander, Barclay, had six. At the 
masthead of his flagship, the "Lawrence," Perry displayed a blue banner, 
upon which was emblazoned in white letters the last words of Captain Law- 
rence, " Don't give up the ship." 

For two hours the " Lawrence " bore the brunt of the battle that followed, 
until she was almost a total wreck. Her rigging was shot away, her sails 
were cut into shreds and her spars were battered into splinters. One mast 
remained, and from it floated the Stars and Stripes. Finally Perry left the 
flagship, boarded the " Niagara," and renewed the fight. 

In his trip from the " Lawrence " to the " Niagara " he was a mark for 
the fire of the whole British fleet, but he reached the ship in safety, and 
after that victory was no longer in doubt. It was then that Commodore 
Perry sat down, and, resting his naval cap on his knee, wrote with a lead 
pencil on the back of a letter this famous dispatch to General Harrison : 

We have wet the ekemy and they are ours— two ships, two brigs, one schooner and one 
sloop, Yours, with great respect, 

O. H. Perry. 



THK GREAT SKA BATTLES OUR NAVY HAS WON. 



All the States and cities in the Union joined in doing Perry honor. 
The Legislature of Pennslvania voted him thanks and a gold medal. Con- 
gress did the same. New York, not to be behindhand, 
voted the conqueror the freedom of the city, and ten- was^onYrcd 
dered him a public banquet, at which the principal men 
of the city delivered eulogistic addresses, while the fashion and beauty of 
the town joined in doing honor to the greatest hero of American naval 
history. 

" Old Ironsides " Stewart, who commanded the frigate " Constitution " 
during the last years of the war of 1812, performed a brilliant feat on the 
evening of February 20, 181 5, by the capture, after a severe fight, of the 
British' ships u Cyane " and " Levant." In this engagement the "Consti- 
tution " was so little damaged that three hours after the battle she was ready 
for another. Stewart crossed the Atlantic, landed many of his prisoners on 
the coast of Brazil, and at Porto Rico he first heard that peace had been pro- 
claimed. He arrived in New York in the middle of May, 1815, and gave the 
first intelligence of the capture of the " Cyane " and " Levant." Honors 
were showered upon him. Congress voted him thanks and a gold medal. 
The common council of the city of New York presented him with the 
freedom of the city in a gold box and honored him with a public banquet, 
which was participated in by the first men of the land. The legislature of 
Pennsylvania presented him, in the name of the State, with a gold-hilted 
sword. The " Constitution " was ever known afterward as " Old Ironsides," 
and Stewart bore the same title until his death in November, 1869, when he 
was ninety-two years old. 

Extraordinary honors were accorded by the city of New York to Cap- 
tain Stephen Decatur, whose frigate, the " United States," 
captured the British frigate " Macedonian," thirty-eight H J^f*Q*£ tur 
guns, Captain Garden, after a severe fight of about two 
hours westward of the Canary Islands, in the winter of 181 2. The " United 
States " displayed splendid gunnery and shot the " Macedonian " to pieces. 
In all the " Macedonian " received one hundred rounds of shot in her hull. 
Realizing the hopelessly crippled condition of his ship, Captain Carden 
surrendered her. 

Rigging her as a bark, and putting a prize crew on board, Decatur 
sailed with his own ship and her captive for American waters, and on the 
first day of January, 1813, the " Macedonian " was anchored in the harbor 
of New York, where she was greeted with joy as a " New Year's gift." " She 
comes with the compliments of the season from Old Neptune," said one of 
the prints of that day. Only three days previous to the arrival of the 



148 THE -GREAT NAVAL BATTLE BEFORE SANTIAGO. 



" Macedonian " a public banquet had been given to Hull, Jones and Decatur 
by the corporation and citizens of New York. 

Decatur received, if anything, greater honors than those bestowed upon 
his brother victors, and during the whole of his stay in New York he was the 
object of an unending ovation. There were banquets, receptions and enter- 
tainments in his honor ; military spectacles, civic parades, presentations of 
addresses and gifts innumerable. Captain Decatur was not allowed to rest 
upon his laurels by the good citizens of New York, who made New Year's 
week one continuous holiday by enthusiastic manifestation of their appre- 
ciation of his valiant conduct. Congress also ordered him a vote of thanks 
and presented him with a gold medal. 



THE GREAT NAVAL BATTLE BEFORE SANTIAGO. 



A Picturesque, Circumstantial Description of the Destruction of 

Cervera's Fleet. 

By John R. Spear, 

( The historian, who, from the deck of Sampson's flagship, viewed the fight.) 

THE story of the desperate flight of the Spanish squadron from the 
harbor of Santiago is unique in the history of naval warfare. Never 
before did such a powerful aggregation of ships seek safety by 
flight alone. Never was such a fleet wholly annihilated in a 
single battle. Never was so great a victory won in so short a time. Never 
did a triumphant force conquer such an enemy with losses so small. Never 
was there such a dramatic scene at sea as that mighty race for life for fifty 
miles down the Cuban coast. 

On Sunday morning, July 3, the battleships " Texas," " Iowa " and 
" Oregon " and the big armored cruiser " Brooklyn " were drifting with the 
tide off the mouth of the harbor of Santiago de Cuba. Near by were the 
converted yachts " Gloucester " and " Hist," while off to the east lay the 
battleship " Indiana," and away on the coast, but still just visible, was the 
flagship " New York," where she had gone to give Admiral Sampson a 
chance for a conference with General Shafter. 

An armistice had been declared between the fighting forces on shore 
pending the removal of non-combatants from the beleagured city. The 



THE GREAT NAVAL BATTLE BEFORE SANTIAGO. 



white-starred nicked-out blue flag of Commodore Schley floating from the 
masthead of the " Brooklyn " proclaimed him senior officer for the time. 

So far as any one afloat could see, there was no life about the oft-battered 
Morro, the Socapa or the other fortifications save as the blood and gold 
ensign of Spain waved in the gentle breeze. It was to be a day of ease for 
the sailors and soldiers so far as any one could foresee. On the ships, at any 
rate, after Jack had his breakfast and had dressed for and endured the regular 
Sunday morning inspection, very little was to be done, and a majority of 
each crew was free to stretch out for a snooze or rig: a mess table and g:et out 
paper and ink for a letter home. 

As a matter of fact, not a few were doing just those things on all the 
ships after the bo's'ns' mates had piped down from inspec- 
tion, when, at 9.30 o'clock precisely, Lieutenant Mark L. The Ships Appear. 
Bristol, watch officer of the " Texas," and the lookout 
on the "Iowa " saw a black curl of coal smoke rising from behind the cape 
on the westerly side of the harbor entrance, Socapa. There v/as no mistak- 
ing the meaning of that smoke, and while the lookout on the " Iowa " 
bawled to Lieutenant Louis S. Van Duser announcing the smoke, Lieu- 
tenant Bristol, of the " Texas," sprang to the signal board on the bridge 
of his ship and set the clattering electric gongs calling all hands to clear 
ship for action. With equal promptness the crew of the " Iowa " heard the 
same call, while her signal officers hurriedly sent a fluttering string of col- 
ored flags to the yard-arm, announcing to all the squadron that a Spanish 
ship was coming out of the harbor. 

But while the gongs were yet ringing the Spanish ship herself came 
plowing around Socapa Point, turning the sluggish water into a splashing 
roll on either bow, and then headed along shore toward the west, so that 
every officer on the decks of the Yankee ships recognized her as the power- 
ful " Almirante Oquendo," while those with good glasses saw the tiny signal 
at the masthead which told that Admiral Cervera was on board. Another 
big cruiser was following her close, the " Cristobal Colon," while no more 
than a cable's length apart astern appeared in swift succession the " Vizcaya " 
and the " Infanta Maria Teresa." 

The signal flags had by this time reached the yard-arm of the " Iowa's" 
mast, but they were no longer needed, for the decks of the whole Yankee 
squadron were vibrating to the tread of men running to 
quarters, man shouting to man that " the Spaniards are ^Quarters ^ 
coming at last." The click of opening breech-locks, 
and the whir of electric elevators hoisting armor-piercing projectiles to the 
big guns, followed hard on the shouts of the hurrying crews. 



THE GREAT NAVAL BATTLE BEFORE SANTIAGO. 



Never in their lives had these sailors known such a moment as that, for 
though they nad been under fire, though some had shelled the enemy in the 
Morro there, and some had seen another squadron drift under the Morro of 
San Juan, to wake the sleepers there with the tornado roar of mighty shells, 
here, for the first time, they were to face an armed and armored enemy afloat, 
and the hope that for weeks had nerved them was to be gratified at last. 

The enemy was first seen at 9.30 a. m., and at 9.32 the men at the 
American batteries were standing erect and silent beside their loaded guns, 
waiting for the order to commence firing, and watching out of the corners 
of their eyes the boys who were still sprinkling the decks with sand that 
no one's foot might slip when blood began to flow across the planks. 

But though silence prevailed among the guns, down in the sealed stoke- 
hole the click and ring of the shovels ^that sprayed the 

Forced "Draught*" coa ^ over ^ e ^ ow ^ n ^ grate-bars, the song of the fans that 
raised the air pressure, and the throb of pump and engine 
made music for the whole crew, for the steam gauges were climbing, and the 
engineers were standing by wide-open throttles as the ships were driven 
straight at the enemy. 

For, as it happened, the " Texas " had been lying directly off the har- 
bor, and a little more than two miles away, the " Iowa " was but a few 
lengths further out, and to the westward, while Captain Jack Philip, of the 
one, and " Fighting Bob " Evans, of the other, were both on deck when the 
cry was raised announcing the enemy. Hastening to their bridges, they 
headed away at once for the Spaniards, while the " Oregon " and the 
" Brooklyn " went flying to westward to intercept the leader. The mightiest 
race known to the history of the world, and the most thrilling, was now 
begun. 

They were all away in less time than it has taken the reader to get thus 

far in the story, and in much less time still — indeed, before the gongs in 

the engine-rooms of the Yankee ships had ceased to vibrate 
The Race is on. . . 7 

— under the imperative order of " Ahead — full speed ! . 
the "Almirante Oquendo," fugitive as she was, had opened the battle. 
With impetuous haste, and while yet more than two miles away, the 
Spaniard pointed one of his n-inch Hontoria rifles in the direction of the 
,c Texas " and pulled the lanyard. The shell came shrieking out to sea, but 
to sea only. Instantly the great guns of the Morro, 180 feet above the 
water, and those of the Socapa battery, lying higher still, with all the bat- 
ieries beneath those two, began to belch and roar as their crews strove with 
frantic energy to aid the flying squadron. It was a fearsome task to take 
ships of any kind under a fire like that, for one plunging shot might sink 



THE GREAT NAVAL BATTLE BEFORE SANTIAGO. 



the best, but the Yankee seamen did not know what fear was* and held their 

course with growing speed. Still it was not in human nat'fe to go on in 

silence, and within two minutes after the Spaniards began 

nrinor the o-uns in the forward turret of the " Texas," and * Vst Yankee 
55 & . Gun. 

in the "Iowa" as well, opened in reply. 

Just how far apart the opposing ships were at the first fir: of the 
Americans has not been told as yet, but one may easily calculate it. For as 
the " Almirante Oquendo " rounded Socapa Point, bound out, the u Texas " 
was but two and a quarter miles away. The " Oquendo," as she appeared, 
was heading for the southeast because of shoal water off the point, and when 
she had rounded it and turned westward, she was still heading, because of 
the trend of the land, more to the south than to the west — she was probably 
steering southwest by south. And all this is to say that she was heading, 
for the time being, directly toward the coming Yankee squadron, with the 
three behind her following at full speed, while the Yankees were bending 
every energy to meet them. 

Now, it was about three minutes from the appearance of the first 
Spaniard to the firing of the first American gun, and during that time the 
Spaniards were traveling at a rate not less than sixteen knots per hour, foi 
they came with boilers at the highest pressure, while the Americans were 
surely covering twelve knots, if not fifteen, after allowing for the low 
pressure at the start. In these three minutes the distance between the 
squadrons was lessened by at least a mile — the range was not more thats 
2,000 yards, if it was so much. But while 2,000 yards is the range (abou^ 
one and one-sixth miles) selected for great-gun target practice, it will nevei 
do for an eager fight, and as the trend of the land still 
headed the Spaniards off to southward the battleships were Eager for Close 
able to reduce the range to 1,500 yards before they were Quarters, 
obliged to head a course parallel with the Spaniards. 

Meantime the " Oregon " and the " Brooklyn," as they were stretching 
away toward the coast, had opened fire also, and then the last of the big 
Spaniards, the " Infanta Maria Teresa," having rounded the point, the 
magnificent spectacle of a squadron battle on the open sea — of a battle 
between four of the best of modern armed cruisers on the Spanish side against 
three battleships and an armed cruiser on our side — was spread out to view. 

On our side the " Brooklyn " led, with the " Oregon," the "Iowa" and 
the "Texas" following in the order named, while the "Indiana" came 
towering along away to the east, though too far for an immediate part in 
the fight. But as the Spaniards got headed fairly down the coast the 
" Cristobal Colon " shot ahead, leaving the " Almirante Oquendo," the 



THE GREAT NAVAE BATTEE BEFORE SANTIAGO. 



" Vizcaya " and " Infanta Maria Teresa " to struggle after as best they might. 
And their best was the worst struggle the world ever saw, for it was a 
struggle to get out of range while firing with hysterical vehemence their 
unaimed guns. 

The first shot from the American ships was fired at 9.33 o'clock. 

Because the range-finder was wrong or because the gentle swing of the sea 

lowered the ship's bow at the moment of firing, the shot 

The * Iowa s Shot short, and a second in like fashion dropped into the 
that was Mortal. ' ... 

sea. At that the gunner said things to himself under his 

breath (it was in the forward turret of the " Iowa ") and tried once more. 

For a moment after it the cloud of gun-smoke shrouded the turret, but 

as that thinned away the eager crew saw the 12-inch shell strike into the 

hull of the " Infanta Maria Teresa." Instantly it exploded with tremendous 

effect. Flame and smoke belched from the hole the shell had made, and 

puffed from port and hatch. And then in the wake of the driven blast rolled 

up a volume of flame-streaked smoke that showed the woodwork had taken 

fire and was burning fiercely all over the after part of the stricken ship. 

The yell that rose from the Yankee throats at that sight swelled to a 

roar of triumph a moment later, for as he saw that smoke the captain of the 

" Teresa " threw her helm over to port and headed her for the rocky beach. 

The one shell had given a mortal wound. 

And then came Wainwright, of the " Maine " — Eieutenant-Commander 

Richard Wainwright, who for weeks conducted the weary search for the 

dead bodies of shipmates on the wreck in the harbor of 

When Wainwright Havan£L H e was captain of the " Gloucester," that was 
Avenged the 

"Maine.** once known as the yacht "Corsair." A swift and beauti- 
ful craft she, but only armed with lean six-pounders. 

As a shoal-draught lookout she had drifted to and fro off the harbor 
watching for gunboats. But what does the reader suppose she was to do 
when the huge armored cruisers appeared ? 

" Get out of range," says prudence, but — "Ahead, full speed!" said 
Wainwright. 

And fortune once more favored the brave, for in the wake of the 
mighty " Maria Teresa " came Spain's two big torpedo-boats, called destroy- 
ers, because of their size — the " Pluton " and the "Furor." Either was 
more than a match for the "Gloucester," for one carried two 12-pounders 
and the other two 14-pounders, besides the 6-pounders that both carried. 
Moreover, both overmatched the speed of the " Gloucester " by at least 
ten knots per hour. But both had thin plated sides. The shells of the 
"Gloucester" could pierce them, and at them went Wainwright, with 
the memory of that night in Havana uppermost in his mind. 



THE GREAT NAVAL BATTLE BEFORE SANTIAGO. 



153 



The two boats — even the whole Spanish fleet — was still within easy 
range of the Spanish forts, and to reach his choice of enemies the " Glouces- 
ter " was obliged to risk, not only the land fire, but that of the " Vizcaya " 
and the "Teresa." Nevertheless, as the torpedo-boats steered toward the 
Brooklyn," evidently bound to torpedo her, Wainwright headed them off, 
and they never got beyond the range of the forts. The shots they threw at 
him outweighed his three to one, but theirs flew wild and his struck home. 

The "Texas" and the "Iowa" both turned their smaller guns on the 
little Spaniards. It is asserted, but has not been verified, that a 12-inch 
shot from the "Iowa" knocked the bow from one of the boats. Then, too, 
came the "Hist" to join in, while seven miles away to the east the "New 
York " could be seen whooping on, and the "Indiana" was already within 
range. The destroyers were fairly mobbed, and yet, because all these 
attacking ships were shrouded in smoke, torpedo-throwers never had, and 
never can have, a better chance for aggression in open day. 

As it was, the chance, however small or large, was thrown away by 

these two captains. As they approached the fleet they spurted flames from 

exactly half a dozen guns each, but one by one these 

were silenced, while the holes in their sides increased more auntl "8 F ea r 
' Queued. 

rapidly, and with more deadly significance, than the pits 
on the faces of smallpox patients. Spanish flesh and blood could not stand 
that. The day of the destroyers was done. As the big "Maria Teresa n 
turned toward the shore, these two destroyers, like stricken wild fowl, fled 
fluttering and splashing in the same direction. The race for freedom which 
all had made became a terror-stricken race for life. It was a race which the 
big ships so far won, but death shrouded in the two destroyers, and they 
foundered as they fled. 

The dread that for six weeks had nightly haunted the iVmerican seamen 
— the dread of a stealthy enemy that might sneak unaware within torpedo 
range, and with one shot sink the most powerful battleships — was gone. 

But while the " Infanta Maria Teresa" was on fire and running for the 
beach her crew were still working their guns, and the big "Vizcaya" was 
handy bv, to double the storm of projectiles she was hurk 

\* it t m -1 1 11 trK m Deadly Aim 

mg at the Iowa and the Texas. of the Yan kees. 

It was not that the " Vizcaya's" crew were manfully 
striving to protect the "Teresa;" they were making the snarling, clawing 
fight of a lifetime to escape the relentless Yankees that were closing upon 
them. For both the " Texas " and the "Iowa" had the range, and it was 
only when the smoke of their own guns blinded them that their fire was 
withheld or a shot went astray. Each ship, in spite of speed, was as a 



154 THE GREAT NAVAL BATTLE BEFORE SANTIAGO. 



towering cloud of white smoke — a cloud from which a gray bow constantly 
protruded, and through which the outline of superstructures appeared dimly 
at times, only to be instantly obscured again by the booming of the guns 
from greater and lesser turrets. It was when this cloud thinned away that 
the shot struck home. There was a blast that no ship and no Spaniard 
could face and live, 

The " Iowa " and the " Texas " had headed off both the u Vizcaya " 
and " Infanta Maria Teresa," while the "Indiana" was coming with tre- 
mendous speed to join. And then came the finishing stroke. A 12- 
inch shell from the " Texas " went crashing into the stoke 

•« Vizcaya •■• hole, and the "Vizcaya" — the ship whose beauty and 
power once thrilled the hearts of NewYorkers with mingled 
pleasure and fear — was mortally wounded. Hope was gone, and with 
helia a port she headed away for the beach as her consort had done. 

For a brief interval — an interval that is almost incredibly brief — there 
had been a show of fighting, but now it was a stern chase that could last 
for little more than seconds. With a tremendous shock each flying ship 
struck on the rocks. For a moment the " Texas " tarried there to let the 
smoke clear and so see accurately the condition of the enemy, but while her 
gunners were taking aim for a final broadside a half-naked quartermaster on 
the," Vizcaya," with clawing hands on the halyards, hauled down the fever- 
hued ensign from her peak and hoisted the white flag instead. 

4 Cease firing! " commanded Captain Jack Philip, of the "Texas," and 
then rang to go ahead full speed again. 

So far as the " Vizcaya " and the " Infanta Maria Teresa " were con- 
cerned, the battle — for that matter the war — was ended. 
Shi^p h BiTned Huge columns of black smoke, edged with red flame, 
rolled from every port and shot hole on the " Vizcaya " 
as from the "Teresa." They were both furnaces of glowing fire. Though 
they had come from the harbor for certain battle, not a wooden bulkhead 
nor a partition in the quarters either of officers or men had been taken out, 
nor had trunks and chests been sent ashore. Neither had the wooden decks 
nor any other wooden fixtures been prepared to resist fire. Apparently the 
crew had not even wet down the decks. So the bursting shells from the 
Yankee ships not only swept the Spanish crews from their guns, but the 
flames licked over the splintered bulkheads and added the torture of fire to 
the bleeding wounds of the stricken men. In a minute the survivors of both 
Spanish crews were taking to such boats as remained or were leaping wildly 
into the water in the hope (that was often vain) of swimming ashore. The 
sharks of the Cuban coast were sated for once with human flesh. 



THE GREAT NAVAIv BATTLE BEFORE SANTIAGO. 



But the " Texas " tarried at this gruesome scene only for a moment. 
They wished only to make sure the two Spaniards were really out of the 
fight, and when they saw the " Iowa " was going to stand by both, away 
they went to join the race between the " Brooklyn " and the " Oregon" on 
our side and the " Cristobal Colon " and the " Almirante Oquendo " on the 
other. In spite of the original superior speed on the part of the Spaniards 
and in spite of the delay on the part of the ' ' Texas," the Spaniards were not 
yet wholly out of range, though the " Cristobal Colon " was reaching away 
at a speed that gave the Spanish shore forces hope. 

Under battened hatches the Yankee firemen, stripped speedy When 
to their trousers, plied their shovels and raised the steam the Call Came, 
gauges higher. The Yankee ships were grass-grown and 
barnacled, but now they were driven as never before since their trial trips. 
The Spaniards had called us pigs, but Nemesis had turned us into spear- 
armed huntsmen in chase of game that neither tusks nor legs could save. 
For while the " Colon " was showing a speed that was the equal at least 
of our own " Brooklyn," long-headed Commodore Schley saw that she was 
hugging the coast, although a point of land loomed in the distance to cut 
her off or drive her out to sea. 

Instead of strivin£fto close in on the Spaniards, Schley headed straight 
for that point — took the shortest :ut for it, so to speak, and in that way drew 
steadily ahead of the " Colon," leaving to the " Oregon " and the " Texas ' v 
the task of holding the Spaniards from turning out across the " Brooklyn's" 
stern. It was a splendid piece of strategy, well worthy of the gallant officer, 
and it won. 

The task of the battleships was well within their powers. It is not 
without reason that both the " Oregon " and the " Texas " are the pride of 
the nation as well as of their crews. The " Oregon " and the " Brooklyn " 
had hurled a relentless fire at the flying Spaniards, and it had told on the 
" Almirante Oquendo " with increasing effect. For the " Oregon " was 
fair on the " Oquendo's " beam and* there was not enough 
armor on any Spanish ship to stop the massive 13-inch "Oquendo'* 
projectiles the ship from the Pacific was driving into her Driven Ashorc * 
with unerring aim. 

At 10 o'clock sharp the " Oquendo" was apparently still fore, and fit, 
but within five minutes she wavered and lagged, and a little later, flagship 
though she was, she put her helm to port, as her consorts had done, and fled 
for life to the beach. 

The " Texas " was coming with unflagging speed astern, and off to the 
east could be seen the flagship of Admiral Sampson racing as never before 



156 THE GREAT NAVAL BATTLE BEFORE SANTIAGO. 



to get a shot in at the finish. An auxiliary had been sent by Commodore 
Schley to call her, and it had met her coming at the call of the guns of the 
Spanish fleet. She had overhauled and passed the " Indiana " long since and 
was well nigh abreast of the " Texas." So the " Oregon," in order to vie 
with the " New York " in the last of the mighty race, abandoned the 
" Oquendo" to her fate and stretched away after the " Cristobal Colon." . 

Some of her crew who looked back saw the " Texas " 
, A j? ravc ^ brine: to near the " Oquendo " and then the sea trembled 

R/lan's Sympathy. 45 ^ 

under the impulse of a tremendous explosion on board the 

doomed Spaniard, while a vast volume of smoke filled with splintered wreck 
rose in the air. Had they been near enough they would have heard the 
crew of the " Texas " start in to cheer, and have heard as well the voice of 
Captain Philip say, as he raised his hand to check them in it : 
" Don't cheer. The poor devils are dying." 
Only a man fit to command could have had that thought. 

The battle was well nigh over. But one ship of the 
The End at Hand. Spanish squadron remained, and she was now in the last des- 
perate struggle — the flurry of a monster of the deep. Her 
officers peered with frowning brows through gilded glasses at the " Brooklyn" 
forging ahead far off their port bow ; at the " Oregon " within range off the 
port quarter ; at the " New York " just getting the range with her beautiful 
8-inch rifle astern. They shivered in unison with the quivering hulk as shot 
after shot struck home. They screamed at their crews and stamped and fumed. 

At the guns their crews worked with, drunken des- 

A Marvelous peration, but down in the stoke hole the firemen plied their 

Feature of r . . . r 

the Spanish Fight, shovels with a will and a skill that formed the most sur- 
prising feature of the Spanish side of the battle. Because 
of them this was a race worthy of the American mettle, for it put to the 
full test the powers of the men of the three ships in chase. 

In the open sea they might have led the Yankees for an hour or more 
beyond, but the strategy of Schley had cut them off, and yet it was not until 
1. 15 o'clock — three hours and three-quarters after the first gun of the 
" Oquendo " — that the " Colon's " gallant captain lost all hope and from a 
race to save the ship turned to the work of destroying her, so that we should 
not be able to float the Stars and Stripes above her. 

The " Oregon " had drawn up abeam of her and was about a mile away, 
the shots from the " New York " astern were beginning to tell and those 
from the " Brooklyn " had all along been smiting her in the face. 

Baffled and beaten she turned to the shore, ran hard aground near 
Tarquino Point, fifty miles from Santiago, and then hauled down her flag. 



THE GREAT NAVAI, BATTLE BEFORE SANTIAGO. 



The most powerful sea force that ever fought under the American flag had 
triumphed ; the most remarkable race in the history of the world was ended. 

Because the " Brooklyn " had forged so far ahead in the race to cut off 

the escape of the "Colon" the "Oregon" was the first to arrive within 

hailing distance, and Captain Clark lowered a boat hastily 

and sent Lieutenant-Commander Tames K. Cogswell in it "Oregon Takcs 

, . ° Possession. 

to take charge of the stranded ship with a prize crew. 

As these climbed to the deck of the " Colon " a most shocking sight 
met their eyes. It was not that the slaughter had been so great, nor was 
the destruction of material by the shells even what had been expected. But 
here was a magnificent ship, most beautifully fitted and appointed, and fully 
manned by the flower of the Spanish Navy, and yet nine-tenths of her crew 
were in a state of beastly intoxication and still drinking. They had won 
the admiration of the chase by their bravery, but now every one of the prize 
crew turned sick with disgust at the sight of their lack of manhood. As 
the work of this crew had been the most striking feature of the Spanish 
flight, so now their weakness served as the lower side of one of the most 
memorable contests known to naval annals. For when the battle was over 
,and the exultant American crews were cheering themselves hoarse for joy, 
Captain John W. Philip, of the " Texas," called his men together on deck 
and with bared head said tb them : 

" I want to make public acknowledgment here that I believe in God 
the Father Almighty. I want all you officers and men to lift your hats, and 
from your hearts offer silent thanks to the Almighty." 

Look on the picture of the drunken Spaniards of the u Cristobal Colon " 
and then on that of the typical American naval seaman and his crew. His 
crew to a man removed their hats, for a moment turned grateful thoughts 
to the mystery of the God of battles, and then impulsively broke into the 
heartiest cheers for the one who, like another typical American seaman, 
" feared his foes not at all, but his God a great deal." 

During the time, however, that the " Brooklyn," the " Oregon " and 
the " New York " had been in chase of the last of the 
Spaniards the crews of the " Gloucester," the " Iowa " and Saving Beaten 

* , ... Spaniards. 

the " Texas " had turned from destroying life to saving 

it, and in this they were followed by the leaders when the " Cristobal Colon " 

had been brought to beach. 

The "Iowa" had tarried by the " Vizcaya " when the others continued 
in the chase. Her officers now make boast that " in fifty-six minutes from 
the time the first dashing Spaniard was sighted all hands were piped down, 
the guns were secured and our boats were in the water to save what was left 



158 THE GREAT NAVAI, BA'±2I,E BEFORE SANTIAGO. 



of the * Vizcaya's ' crew." On entering upon this work the crews of the 
Yankee ships found the task little if any less dangerous than that of fighting 
the Spaniards, for every beached ship except the " Colon " was on fire when 
she struck. Huge clouds of black smoke were rising a thousand feet in the 
air and drifting in a long curve toward the lofty hills along shore, while at 
frequent intervals explosions, some of which were small as if of a cartridge 
or two, and some were tremendous as if of a magazine, made the air and 
sea tremble and vibrate as if with earthquake shocks. With each large 
explosion the debris of broken deck and gear — doubtless also of broken 
human bodies — was thrown into the air. 

To go alongside of a blazing warship is no small task, but the Spanish 
crews were crowding to the bows and climbing the military masts and leap- 
ing into the water to escape the creeping flames, and the American boats 
hastened to the rescue. There was need of haste in the name of humanity, 
too, for many that leaped overboard were drowning, and what was worse, 
those who reached shore were meeting here and there 

Bloody Work of ^ an( ^ s f pitiless Cuban guerrillas who liked nothing: bettei 
Cuban Guerrillas. r t to 

than shooting down the helpless sailors who were clinging 

to the drifting wreckage or struggling toward the rocks of the beach. 

When the Cubans appeared and opened fire there was a mad rush of 
Spaniards back to sea, but Captain Evans, of the "Iowa," sent a file of 
marines on shore to protect the helpless Spanish sailors, and told the 
cowardly Cubans that unless they ceased their infamous work he would fire 
on them from the ship. 

Then the rescuing of the Spaniards went on in peace. Among the first 
to reach the " Iowa " was the bland Eula'te, who commanded the " Vizcaya." 
He was wounded and had to be lifted to the low-lying quarter-deck of the 
" Iowa " after he was brought alongside, but once there he stood up sailor 
fashion and offered his sword to Captain Evans. Captain Bob had said in 
other days that if he were turned loose with the " Massachusetts" in Havana 
harbor, " they won't speak anything in hell but Spanish for the next five 
years." That's the kind of a man Fighting Bob is in battle. But now that 
the enemy had been beaten he was as gentle as only a warrior can be. He 
refused the proffered sword and gave the beaten Eulate the heartiest welcome 
known to the sea. 

In like manner Wainwright of the " Gloucester " had gone to the rescue 
of the " Oquendo's " crew. There, too, the Cubans had begun the work of 
slaughtering the helpless seamen — they were even devilish enough to fire 
shot after shot into the body of a dead Spanish officer that was lashed to a 
spar and adrift beyond the surf. Indignant beyond description, Wainwright 



THE GREAT NAVAL BATTLE BEFORE SANTIAGO. 



ordered them away, declaring that he would fire on them with 6-pounders if 
they did not immediately leave the beach, and, greatly amazed to learn that 
the Spanish lives were to be spared, the Cubans fled to the brush. 

It is a pitiful fact that the Spanish survivors on the " Oquendo," too, 
as they saw the American boats approaching, thought that death instead of 
rescue awaited them, and to soften the American hearts 
began crying with trembling lips : IT^ect^V^fo 

" Viva los Americanos ! " and begging the while in Murdered, 
plaintive voices for mercy. 

The captain of the " Oquendo " was the only officer who proved unable 
to face defeat, for after his ship grounded he fired a pistol ball into his brain 
and died instantly. 

The fire on the " Vizcaya " seems to have wrought quicker havoc with 
ship and crew than on any other ship. Perhaps she had a greater amount 
of woodwork between decks. Any way, when the Ameri- 
cans came along to save her crew, they found her plates red Burned as They 
hot in places, and some of the Spanish, in trying to escape the «< Vizcaya »» 
to the boats by climbing down ropes, were painfully 
burned by contact with these plates. A view through the wide rents in her 
stern, where the projectiles had passed, showed the naked bodies of many 
men, bloody and torn, roasting as if in a furnace. Nearly half the crew of 
the " Vizcaya" were killed in battle or lost their lives through fire and water 
and at the hands of Cuban dastards at the beach. 

Among the men of the " Oquendo " rescued from the beach by the 
" Gloucester " was the Spanish Admiral Cervera, He was found to be pain- 
fully wounded in the arm. As he was helped on board 
the " Gloucester," Captain Wainwright met him at the gang- Spa ^™ lral 
way and congratulated him on the fight he had made — a 
little ceremony that is dear to the heart of every sailor, but in a case like 
this means no more than a Spanish compliment. It was a day of marvel- 
ous revenges. It was Wainwright, of the lost "Maine," who captured the 
Spanish admiral, as well as sank at least one torpedo-boat destroyer ; and 
it was the " Texas," almost a sister ship of the u Maine," and the only one 
of the " Maine's " class, that drove the Spanish flagship to destruction. 

Eater when the " Iowa " and the " Gloucester " had both returned to 

posts off Santiago, Captain Robley Evans sent an invitation to the captured 

admiral to come on board the " Iowa " and occupy the 

admiral's quarters with which the " Iowa " is provided. The Pink of 
. . 1 ^ a i , , , Naval Etiquette. 

Ot course Cervera accepted. As he approached the 

" Iowa " the marine corps was drawn up in proper line on the quarter deck,. 



i6o THE GREAT NAVAI, BATTLE BEFORE SANTIAGO. 



with buglers handy by ; the captain with his officers alongside stood at 
the gangway ; Captain Eulate, with his sword on, was beside Evans, and 
then as the handsome old gentleman was helped up the side, the buglers 
sounded the old familiar blare, the marines as one man presented arms with 
the old familiar crash, and the officers with hats off, bowed low to the dis- 
tinguished prisoner. Sir Walter Raleigh could not have ordered it better 
or more to the Spanish taste. 

And then there was the burial of the dead. Several wounded men 
were taken on the " Iowa " and some died. These were sewn in canvas 
hammocks, the crew and prisoners were mustered on deck, a Spanish chaplain 
read the service of the dead, and a guard of marines fired volleys when the 
bodies were sliding from the tilting board. 

Nor was this all, for many of the prisoners were brought on board half 
naked, and the Americans were quick to supply their needs. Admiral Cer- 
vera had good reason to speak kindly of the treatment he and his men had 
received after their extraordinary defeat. 

We come now to the comparison of ships and damages and losses of 
men. In numbers the Spanish brought four ships and two torpedo-boat 
destroyers out of the harbor. 

Squadron It ig sai(i b the fg cers G f an Austrian cruiser that 

for Squadron. i « 1 i „ , 

arrived during the battle that a Spanish gunboat came out 
also, but none of the reporters mentioned her, and if she came out she had 
no part in the fight. 

To meet these six vessels Commodore Schley had four ships and two 
converted yachts on hand. The " Indiana " was near by, and the " New 
York," by her superior speed, showed herself to be actually within reach, 
though hull down to eastward when the fight began. The actual fighting 
was done, however, by the " Brooklyn," the " Iowa," the u Oregon " and 
the u Texas." The near presence of the other two, like that of the torpedo- 
boat " Ericsson," Captain Usher, was certain to have a moral effect on the 
enemy, although their guns had very little physical effect indeed. It is 
entirely fair to say, however, that had the Americans manned the Spanish 
squadron, and Spaniards ours, the " New York " and her consorts would 
have had ample time to reach the scene before the end of the battle, unless, 
indeed, the dash for liberty had opened a way through the line at once. 

In numbers, that is to say, the two squadrons were equal. In fighting 
power the preponderance was, of course, on our side. The torpedo-boat 
destroyers outclassed our two converted yachts at least three to one, but on 
the Spanish cruisers there were of guns of the first class two io-inch rifles and 
six 1. 1 -inch, while on our ships there were six 12-inch and eight 3-inch rifles. 



MEETING OF GENERALS SHAFTER AND TORAL PREPARATORY TO THE 
SPANISH SURRENDER AT SANTIAGO, JUNE 17, i8q8. 




SCENES IN AND AROUND TAMPA BEFORE THE START FOR CUBA. 



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THE GREAT NAVAI, BATTLE BEFORE SANTIAGO. 161 



Of the second class (not the so-called secondary battery), they had forty 
guns of from 5^ to 6-inch calibre and six of about 5-inch, while we had 
twenty-four 8-inch, ten 6-inch, twelve 5-inch and six 4-inch guns. We had 
•fourteen big guns to their eight, and the least of ours was an inch heavier 
than the best of theirs, while of medium guns we had fifty-two to their forty- 
six, and of these twenty-four of ours were 8-inch or almost large enough 
to be counted among the huge guns. And this comparison is to be espe- 
cially considered, for it portrays the difference between American and Con- 
tinental ideas in arming ships just as the results of the battle show the 
difference between American and Spanish crews. 

Of the secondary batteries a word must be said. The American ships 
may be called for one reason the porcupines of the sea. It is guessed that 
no one will say they fight like porcupines, but it is plainly 
true that they bristle like the thorny beasts— bristle with G " ns Brist,l " g " ke 

. . • / J Porcupine ^ujIIs. 

tiny 6-pounders and smaller guns. It has long been the 
fashion to speak of these slender weapons as murdering guns. They were 
expected to hurl such st6rms of small projectiles upon the exposed portions 
of an enemy's ships that no man could remain there and live. But the 
ships of Spain had a plenty of these guns — they carried sixty-six in all, and 
yet. the American commanders, from Commodore Schley on the " Brooklyn " 
to Captain Wairiwright on the " Gloucester," fought their ships from bridge 
and open deck. As between the big ships these secondary batteries counted 
not at all. Nevertheless we could not do without them, for when it came to 
beating off the thin-sided torpedo-boat destroyers, these were the weapons 
to do it ; for in Yankee hands they were like a twelve-gauge shotgun to 
a quail shooter. They were trained for snap shots and worked like a lead 
pump — like the stream from the nozzle of a fireman's hose. The crews 
of the torpedo-boat destroyers were all swept dead from the decks, it is true, 
but the boats themselves were literally shot full of holes and down they 
went. The holes were large enough. 

As to the damages to the ships, the difference is well-nigh but not quite 
infinite. The Spanish squadron was almost annihilated, while the American 
escaped with but trifling injuries. 

Three of the Spaniards were driven ashore within less 0ns s ^dron 

. . . . stroked — One 

than twelve miles of their exit, all 111 a sinking condition, Unhurt. 

all with their superstructures (that is, the light upper por- 
tions) wholly wrecked., and all on fire beyond the control of their crews. The 
havoc wrought, if told in detail, would seem incredible, and all this was due 
to the able marksmen who stood behind the American guns. 

The " Cristobal Colon " was injured less than the others — just why, 
11 



162 THE GRKAT NAVAIy BATTLE BEFORE SANTIAGO. 

unless it was because her speed made our gunners over anxious, has not been 
determined, but even she was driven ashore at last. There is hope that she 
may be gotten off the beach and repaired. As for the others, the experts 
hope they may find half the guns still serviceable. 

On our side the " Brooklyn " was struck forty-five times, the " Iowa " 
nine and the " Texas " got one in the ash hoist. Those that nit the 
" Brooklyn " were all from the medium guns — in fact, all the projectiles 
that struck either of our ships were of medium size. The Spaniards could 
not work the big ones effectively. 

And so it happened that when the battle was over and every one of the 
Spanish ships had disappeared under the sea or lay smoking on the rocks, 
every Yankee ship was afloat with colors flying and ready 

Do it Over Again *° ^° ^ a ^ over a & a ^ n cou ld Camara's fleet have arrived 
opportunely. 

The losses of men were equally significant. A shell in 
the "Brooklyn" killed one good man — Chief Yeoman George H. Ellis, of 
New York, for which his ship was named, and wounded two more. 

On the "Texas" the shock of her 12-inch guns fired athwartships 
knocked one man down a hatchway and broke his leg. 

As for the enemy the official returns are not complete, and it is doubt- 
ful if they will ever be accurately made. There were about 300 killed, 160 
wounded (a significant contrast of numbers), and the remainder of the six 
crews — perhaps 1,800 men — were made prisoners. Nearly 500 of their men 
shed their blood in a wild dash for liberty, and three of ours bled to stop 
them. It was not without good reason that Fighting Bob said, when the 
battle was over : " God and the gunners were on our side." 



ADMIRAL STANTON'S DIAGRAM OF THE BATTLE. 




TERRIFIC EFFECTS OF OUR BIG GUNS. 



163 



TERRIFIC EFFECTS OF OUR BIG GUNS FIRING UPON 

CERVERA'S SHIPS. 

By Paul St. Clair Murphy, 

•» . (Senior Marine Officer of the " Brooklyn/' ) 

TEN days after the destruction of Cervera's squadron by our great 
battleships, the Board of Survey made a careful examination of the 
wrecks in order to definitely ascertain the specific damage, and 
effects of the shots fired by our guns of different calibre. The 
result of this investigation is extremely interesting : 

Of four ships examined three had been blown up by thiAx magazines, 
and of these one had every magazine exploded, and torpedoes in addition, 
yet on none of them was there the same effect as that produced by the 
explosion on the "Maine." There was no upheaval of the keel and little 
bulging of the plates except in the immediate vicinity of the explosion. 
The effect was nearly altogether upward, in some cases the protective deck 
being lifted ; but outside of the springing of a few plates the hulls were intact. 

The examination of the wrecks of the Spanish ships, three of which 
were burned and all theiy magazines exploded, was made, first, for the pur- 
pose of ascertaining the effect of American gunnery, and, second, to find out 
the effect of internal explosion. The awful effect of well aimed shots was. 
demonstrated in the rapid sinking of the fleet. When it is remembered that 
the "Oquendo" and the "Infanta Maria Teresa" were both sunk within 
forty minutes of the time they left the entrance, the work of American 
gunners may well be considered remarkable, especially when it is known 
that the " Oquendo " was struck more than fifty-five times and the " Infanta 
Maria Teresa " thirty-seven times by large projectiles. 

The record of the damages to these ships is a world record and is fraught 
with great interest. The fight started at a range of 6,000 yards., or about 
three miles, while at 2,000 or 2,500 yards two torpedo boats and two cruisers 
were smashed. The closest fighting was done at 1,100 and 1,000 yards, by 
the "Brooklyn" and " Vizcaya," with annihilating effect on the Spanish 
ship. But two projectiles larger than 8-inch struck a vessel, both of these 
either 12 or 13-inch, being put through the " Infanta Maria Teresa." The 
8-inch, 6-inch, 5-inch and 6-pounders did the bulk of the work and were 
frightfully destructive. 

Some idea of the effect can be obtained from a brief summary of the 
injuries to each ship as found by the Examining Board. The Board had 



164 



TERRIFIC EFFECTS OF OUR BIG GUNS. 



upon it such capable men as Executive Officer Rogers, of the "Iowa"; 
Executive Officer Mason, of the " Brooklyn," an expert on the effect of shells 
on armor ; Lieutenant Huessler, of the "Texas," who has made some splendid 
improvements in gun firing on that ship, and Assistant Naval Constructor 
Hobson, of " Merrimac" fame, who has a reputation for knowledge of ship 
construction. Briefly, these officers found : 

" Cristobol Colon," battleship, first-class, with six inches of steel for 
protection not only on the water line, but around the 6-inch guns. This 
ship was hit with large projectiles but six times, as it kept 
^Itl^ProjZmls* ont of ^nge nearly the whole time, passing behind the 
other ships for protection, and finally making a run for it. 
The hits were made by the " Brooklyn " and " Oregon." One 8-inch shell 
went into the port side of the ward room, and left oh the starboard side 
without exploding, but cleaned out everything in the room. A 5-inch shell 
hit just above the armor belt, and a 6-inch shell struck her on the bow. 
None of the injuries was sufficient to put her out of action, and they were 
not as serious as those received by the " Brooklyn," at one time her sole 
antagonist. The statement that the " Brooklyn " was overhauling her, and 
that the " Oregon's " terrific 13-inch guns were shooting nearer and nearer, 
and that escape was impossible, seems to explain her surrender. 

The u Viscaya," armored cruiser, of same class as battleships " Texas'' 
and u Maine," two 11.5-inch guns and ten 5.5-inch guns, with protections 
ten and twelve inches thick, double and treble that of the "Brooklyn." 
This ship was the special prey of the " Brooklyn " and the " Oregon," 
although the " Texas," after her destructive work on the " Oquendo " and 
"Teresa," aided a little at long range. The "Viscaya," exclusive of 
1 -pounders and rapid-fire hits, which swept her deck, was hit with large 
projectiles fourteen times, and 6-pounders eleven times. The 8-inch guns of 
the " Brooklyn " and " Oregon," and the 6-inch guns on the " Oregon " and 
5-inch on the "Brooklyn," tore her structure above the armor belt almost 
into shreds, while the 6-pounders and i-pounders made it too warm for men 
to stand at the guns. The " Texas " got in a few 6-inch shots, and the 
" Iowa " landed a couple of 4-inch shells. No 13 or 12-inch shells struck her. 

The "Infanta Maria Teresa," the flagship, of the same build as the 
" Viscaya," was badly punished, and was the only one of the four ships hit 
by 12 or 13-inch projectiles. Two of that size went into 
The Crash and , and the position of one wou id tend to demonstrate that 
Slaughter on tho . _ , ■, ■, -, , • r ,1 

"Viscaya." it was fired by the " Texas, " tne other being from the 

"Indiana/' "Oregon" or "Iowa." An 8-inch shell, 
undoubtedly from the " Brooklyn," because she was the only ship in line, 



TERRIFIC EFFECTS OF OUR BIG GUNS. 1-65 

with the " Maria Teresa's ' ' head as she turned west, entered just forward of 
the beam on her port side, and exploding inside cleaned out the deck with 
four gun crews. This is the shot that Cervera said came from the 
" Brooklyn" and set fire to the ship. The " Teresa's" great difficulty and 
one that compelled her hurried surrender was that all her fire mains were 
cut and she was unable to extinguish the fires that were driving her men 
from the guns. 

The "Almirante Oquendo," armored cruiser, same class as the 
' ■ Vizcaya ",and the " Teresa," went through the most terrible baptism of fire 
of any of the ships except the torpedo boats. Her upper works were one 
ragged mass of cut up steel and her decks were covered with dead and 
dying. She was hit on the port side four times by 8-inch shells, three times 
by 4-inch shells (probably from the "Iowa"), twice by 6-inch and forty-two 
times by 6-pounders. The wounds made by 1 -pounders show that she met 
the fire of the entire fleet. One of the findings of the Board of Survey was 
that an 8-in shell had struck the forward turrent just where the gun open- 
ing was, and that every man in the turret was killed, the officer standing 
in the firing hood being still in that position. 

" The secondary battery fire of the ' Brooklyn ' was really terrible. It 
drove my men from their guns, and when you were at close range did fright- 
ful work," said Captain Eulate two days after Schley's defeat of the Spanish 
squadron, and a rescued officer of the u Oquendo " said that nearly one-half 
of the terrible damage to that ship was done by one and 6-pounders, which 
constitute the secondary battery of the " Brooklyn." 

The battle orderlies will merit a place among those whose conduct is 
worthy of special mention. They were on the move constantly bearing 
battle orders from Commodore Schley and Captan Cook, and in no instance 
did they fail in the prompt and intelligent performance of their responsible 
duty. The signal men occupied very exposed positions during the action and 
rendered excellent service. Signal halyards and numbers* and speed cones 
were riddled by small projectiles and fragments of bursting shell, casualties 
that show in what a zone of danger the signal men peformed their duties. 
Signalmen Coombs and Mclntire and Battle Orderlies Rail and Davis were 
so near Yeoman Ellis when he was killed that they were spattered with his 
blood. None showed more unflinching courage than the men in the military 
tops, who stood by their guns, delivering their fire with unerring precision, 
undismayed by the projectiles that were flying about them and striking in 
their immediate vicinity. Private Stockbridge, the only man on the sick list, 
climbed into the maintop at the signal for battle, where he remained until 
end of the action, doing good work at his gun. 



THE DEADLIEST VESSEL EVER CONCEIVED. 



THE DEADLIEST VESSEL EVER CONCEIVED. 



The Dynamite Cruiser " Vesuvius 99 in Action. 

By Harry-Dale Hallmark. 

"She's a concentrated, fragile form of might ; 
She's a daring, vicious thing with a rending, deadly sting — 
And she asks no odds nor quarter in the fight." 

—James Barnes. 

EVERY man who goes down into the hold of the dynamite cruiser 
u Vesuvius " for service is a hero. To quote Mr. Barnes, " She's a 
pent volcano stoppered at top notch," and no man down in her 
knows at what exact second the valve may be lifted ! 
Seventy men sleep in' this volcano ! Not at its base, but right in the 
heart of its crater. Ay, not only sleep, but when the sea rolls and the great 
15-inch guns are dealing to the foe remorseless, unseen, silent death, these 




This is the Projectile Thrown by the Vesuvius' Guns. 

tt is filled with, guncotton, the greatest explosive known, and the devastation caused by it is 
something awful. It can be exploded either on land or in water. 

men are shut down in the crater with death at every point of the compass. 
Every second they do that dreaded thing which is so fearful it has been put 
into a colloquialism : "Walkover dynamite." Walk over it? Why, they 
sleep withit as bedfellows ; they know that it is their floor, walls, roof. Each 
man of that seventy takes the greatest chance in the navy. So direful, so 
dread did service seem on that new invention with the deadly name, that 
men were drafted for service — none volunteered. For the sailor knew that 
beside being charged like a gun ready for a fuse, that cockleshell could roll 
in a way to madden one, and keep her decks so wet that in an engagement 
fresh air could only be remembered. 

But since that Thursday, of July 1st, when the slinking, silent thing 
crept up in the night and sent three noiseless shots into Santiago that 
crumbled a fort as if it were rice paper, and threw solid mortar hundreds of 



THE DEADLIEST VESSEL EVER CONCEIVED. 



167 



feet in air, as a bull would toss a hare, since then, men have begged to be 
'enlisted there. They will willingly go down into the little cubby holes and 
sleep, and eat and never stand erect, just for a chance at 
glory. Every man has made up his mind to be a Rich- A c,can Dcath 

-I T -r 1 . mi , 1 r 1 1 ,S thc 0n, y 

mond Hobson ! They want the honor of belonging to a Recommendation, 
crew that is being wired and cabled about. They know 
that the "Vesuvius" has marked a new era in warfare; she is to '98 what 
the " Monitor " and " Merrimac " were to '62. She i-s making nations gasp 
and hold their breaths. She has proved two great things to naval life the 
world over ; that she can make a record of over twenty-one knots an hour, 
and that she can take the most accurate aim of any gun afloat. 

Men want to be behind such guns as these ! And the cleanliness of the 
position has naught to do with their desire, although much of the outward 
semblance of warfare is removed when an officer can stand in his dress suit, 
if wishing, fire a gun which will knock a hole as large as a church out of 
the side of a fort, and then go down to dinner without a fleck on his linen. 

Every one likes to be in the cabinet of power, and the men of the 
" Vesuvius " will have a history worth its future telling. But they pay 
for their wish. The little cruiser is only twenty-six feet six inches wide, 
and in this width are packed seventy men, air tubes, a hundreds of pounds of 
guncotton, boilers, steering-gear, machinery, kitchen and berths. At night 
when they lie down to sleep with the dynamite, they know that one small 
. shell whizzing their way would send men and boat to the bottom as rapidly as 
one of their shells send earth skyward. " Why, I'm even afraid to snore in my 
sleep," said a sailor " for fear I'll discharge the guncotton, and as for kicking 
in my sleep — why, I'm as quiet as a drugged cobra." " We slide along," says 
another ; " we're afraid at first to walk, I went on tiptoe for the first three 
days." " Well, I went on my head and knees the day it was so rough," said 
a third. "A fellow has to learn to walk on any part of his anatomy in this 
ship when the sea is rough." 

As for the roll, however, the " Vesuvius " men have a better time of it 
than the men in the torpedo boat. An inside view of the " MacKenzie" 
gives a view of how much discomfort a man can endure. But he can't be 
counted on to live or keep sane. There was direful discomfort in those 
torpedo boats that kept Admiral Sampson's fleet from making its best time. 
In a good sea there is no standing erect ; it is really as the sailor put it — one 
has to navigate on any part of one's anatomy. The heat is intense when 
the boilers are underpressure. The decks are round and smooth, and there 
is nothing but the tiny steering hood and the rapid-fire gun to grasp, should 
a wave try to take you with it. The seas sweep entirely over the deck. 



168 THE DEADLIEST VESSEL EVER CONCEIVED. 



The hatches are closed and a rubber attachment put over them to keep a 
drop of water from the torpedoes. Fans are set in action, but the cramped 
position, the narrow quarters, the heat are enough, continued, to drive men 
insane. Five men did go mad — -raving mad — in a French torpedo boat that 
was kept out at sea a good while. It is not the same thing which drives 
stokers crazy, but the baffled, caged, seemingly hopeless condition which 
these men fight. They can't stretch or walk, and they are down there like 
monkeys in a cage. The " Vesuvius " is better than these. She is nearly a 
dozen feet wider than the " MacKenzie," but she carries far more men. But 
our American sailors are no more cowards than our privates, and men are 
wild to go now on the " pent volcanoes stoppered at top notch," either 
torpedo-boats or the deadly dynamiter. 

But just think what the "Vesuvius" can do! What she proved by 
hard, indisputable facts, that she can accomplish ! One shell alone from her 
darkened bow sent a glare of light to heaven as if some 
The Terrific Qne . b e ii ows on Vulcan's furnace, knocked into 

rower of Uyna- x ' 

mite Shells. a fort and rocked the great ironclads at anchor ! 

Think what it means to accurately aim one hundred 
pounds of dynamite at an object. No chances are taken with the Zalinski 
gun. The great naval authorities of America say it has the most accurate 
aim of any gun on land or afloat ever since Fiske tampered so successfully 
with it. He invented an electrical appliance by which the gun refused to 
fire unless in range. Men who know, say there never was such an aim 
obtainable with a gun. Where it is far ahead of the torpedo-boat in firing, 
lies in the fact that air, not water, resists the shells. 

A man who has studied the question and speaks with authority says 
the torpedo-boat is really the last boat to be afraid of by a moving ship. It 
is only to the anchored vessel that the water torpedo is dangerous. Take, 
for instance, a cruiser with 10,000 tons displacement, moving through the 
water at a good rate. The tremendous displacement at her side, the great 
current she generates, would divert a torpedo's course. But the " Vesuvius " 
fires her terrible projectile into the air, at an elevation sometimes of over 
four hundred feet high ; then gathering itself for a terrific plunge, gaining 
speed, gravitation assisting it, the shell plunges, point first, right into its 
object ! It does not warn its enemies. Silent compressed air does the work, 
and there is the carnage, but none of the smoke or noise of battle. It is as 
sudden, as final, as quiet, as speedy, as terrific as an earthquake. It is man's 
imitation of seismic force. 

It is the thunderbolt in the mortal hands of skill. It may not always 
strike on the object, but this is a trick of the gunner's, for what Zalinski 



THE DEADLIEST VESSEL EVER CONCEIVED. 



169 



claimed for the gun, that it can do — fall in the water near a ship and blow 
its outsides in, or craftily sinking below the keel, blow the bottom to the stars. 

The acreage of damage by dynamite is large and final. The torpedo 
striking the water near a vessel is as deadly as if the ship were struck amid- 
ships. Instead of dense smoke it will send a wall of water 100 feet high to 
hide its immediate work, but this is simply its artistic, scenic trick ; it is the 
ivy to the blasted oak. It explodes five seconds after striking, and the 
clever gunner, taking this into line, can play all sorts of 

tricks With his fearful toy. He can plant his horrible Surprising Accuracy 

1 1 r • 1 r r n ° f F,rm g- 

charges on the four sides of -a square of a fleet. 

How delighted " Fighting Bob ' ' Evans must be over Thursday's achieve- 
ments off Santiago. No man in the fleet watched the new little cockle- 
shell's work more than the captain of the " Iowa." He always had faith in 
her ultimate success. He told Mr. Edwin Cramp that if he had had con- 
trol of her for three months longer down in those South American waters 
several years ago, she would have amazed the naval world then. 

The man who invented her never intended that the time fuse they tried 
should be used ; but the government was experimenting on its own account, 
and the consequence was the gun never went true. Immediately it was 
decided that the pneumatic dynamite gun was not any good afloat. On 
land, fine ; let it stay there ! But there was a little band of zealots who 
cajoled and coerced and won their way in not having the little volcano 
dismantled. The government by successive stages followed out the Scotch- 
man's proverb of " keep a thing seven years, turn it over and keep it another 
seven." Ten years ago the "Vesuvius" startled both continents by its trial 
trip before Secretary Whitney, going at a speed of 22.947 knots an hour. 
The Americans claim this to be the fastest record ever made and gladly 
hailed themselves the champions of the world in shipbuilding. The British 
papers made a demur from this " bombastic declaration," as they termed it, 
and quoted four or five other trips. But there is a large and generally ac- 
cepted opinion which put the " Vesuvius " as the fastest vessel afloat at that 
time. 

That her conception, her guns, her method is purely American no one 
on either continent doubts. She is the heroine of the marine engineering 
world to-day, as Dewey and Schley and Hobson are of the human 
world. It remains simply this, that America has probably revolutionized 
warfare at sea. So the day of the minority has become the pledge of the 
majority, and the little band of believers, Captain Evans among them, are 
just hurrahing away ! Poor little craft ! She has been flopping around for 
ten weary, uneventful years, called the crazy fancy of someone's cracked 



THE DEADLIEST VESSEL EVER CONCEIVED. 



brain ; no one wanting her, every man in the service swearing he wouldn 5 t 
serve on her unless drafted ; unmanned, misunderstood, she was a pathetic 
thing. Now her hour has come ! If she has any intelligence she must feel 
the glory of success. But, barring her emotion, there are those to-day 
who feel they have been vindicated. 

Technically, the " Vesuvius " has a water line of 252 

Construction f t b 6 f t 6 { h draught IO f eet j inch . dis - 

and Cost. ' ' ' & > ' 

placement, 929 tons ; she has a speed of 21.4 knots. She 

has two propellers driven by vertical triple expansion engines. Her horse 
I power is 3,794 ; coal capacity, 152 tons. In addition to her three 15-inch 
dynamite guns she carries three 3- pounder rapid fire guns. The Cramps 
built her in 1887 at a cost of $350,000, when Mr. Whitney was Secretary of 
the Navy. She was launched in 1888. Her speed at trial of 21.947 was con- 
sidered the fastest on record. 

One of the prime uses to which the "Vesuvius" may be applied is the 
countermining of channels that have been planted- with torpedoes. So 
wonderfully destructive are her dynamite gun-cotton shells, that it is possible 
for this unique vessel to literally fight her way through the most dangerous 
passage that mines ever defended, and thus open the way for the entrance of 
following ships. One of her 500-pound shells, which may be accurately 
thrown a distance of nearly two miles, can be made to explode at any point, 
whether on the water surface, or at the bottom, and such an explosion will 
destroy every mine or torpedo within 200 feet of the place where it falls. 
For this countermining purpose the services of the " Vesuvius " may be 
regarded as being invaluable, while for bombarding, especially under the 
cover of night, when she may creep within range, she promises to be 
dreadfully effective, as was shown at Santiago. 



HOW WE ANNIHILATED CERVERA'S SQUADRON. i 7 x 

HOW WE ANNIHILATED CERVERA'S SQUADRON* 

By 




{Captain of the Battleship "Iowa.") 

THE destruction of Cervera's ships before Santiago de Cuba on the 
morning of July 3, 1898, was an incident at once so thrilling and 
important that the story will never cease to interest, and the history 
of the world has been mightily enriched thereby : 
As Cervera's squadron came out in column, from the bottle-necked 
harbor, — the ships beautifully spaced as to distance, and gradually increasing 
their speed to thirteen knots, it was superb. The range at this time was 2,000 
yards from the leading ship of our blockading fleet. The " Iowa's " helm was 
immediately put hard to starboard, and the entire starboard side was poured 
into the " Infanta Maria Teresa " which led the advance. The helm was 
then quickly shifted to port, and the ship headed across the stern of the 
" Teresa " in an effort to head off the " Oquendo." All the time the engines 
were driving at full speed ahead. A perfect torrent of shells from the enemy 
passed over the smokestacks and superstructure of the " Iowa," but none 
struck her. 

The " Cristobal Colon," being much faster than the rest of the Spanish 
ships, moved rapidly to the front in an effort .to escape. In passing the 
"Iowa" the "Colon" placed two 6-inch shells fairly in our starboard bow. 
One passed through the cofferdam and dispensary, wrecking the latter and 
bursting on the berth deck, doing considerable damage. The other passed 
through the ^side at the water line with the cofferdam, where it remained 
until removed when the ship was overhauled at New York a month later. 

As it was now obviously impossible to ram any of the Spanish ships on 
account of their superior speed, the " Iowa's " helm was put to the starboard, 
and she ran on a course parallel with the enemy. Being 
then abreast of the " Almirante Oquendo," at a distance of Terrible ^Damage 
1,100 yards, the "Iowa's" entire battery, including the "Oquendo." 
rapid-fire guns, was opened on the " Oquendo." The 
punishment was terrific. Many 12 and 8-inch shells were seen to explode 
inside of her, and smoke came out through her hatches. Two 12-inch 



HOW WE ANNIHILATED CERVERA'S SQUADRON. 



shells from the " Iowa " pierced the fated vessel at the same moment, one 
forward and the other aft. The " Oquendo " seemed to stop her engints 
for a moment, and lost headway, but she immediately resumed her speed, 
and gradually drew ahead of the "Iowa," and came under the terrific fire 
of the "Oregon" and "Texas." 

At this moment the alarm of " torpedo boats " w r as sounded, and two 
torpedo-boat destroyers were discovered on the starboard quarter at a distance 
of 4,000 yards. Fire was at once opened on them with the after battery, 
and a 1 2-inch shell cut the stern of one destroyer squarely off. As this shell 
struck, a small torpedo boat fired back at the battleship, sending a shell 
within a few feet of my head. I said to Executive Officer Rogers, " That 
little chap has got a lot of cheek." Rogers shouted back, " She shoots very 
well all the same." 

Well up among the advancing cruisers, spitting shots at one and then 
♦ at another, was the little " Gloucester," shooting first at a cruiser and then 
at a torpedo boat, and hitting a head wherever she saw it. The marvel was 
that she was not destroyed by the rain of shells. 

In the meantime, the "Vizcaya was slowly drawing abeam of the 
" Iowa," and for the space of fifteen minutes it was give and take between 
the two ships. The " Vizcaya "'fired rapidly but wildly, not one shot taking 
effect on the " Iowa," while the shells from the " Iowa " w r ere tearing great 
rents in the sides of the "Vizcaya." As the latter passed ahead of the 
" Iowa" she came under the murderous fire of the " Oregon." At this time 
the " Infanta Maria Teresa " and the "Almirante Oquendo," leading the 
enemy's column, were seen to be heading for the beach and in flames. The 
"Texas," "Oregon" and "Iowa" pounded them unmercifully. They 
ceased to reply to the fire, and in a few minutes the Spanish cruisers were a 
mass of flames and on the rocks, with their colors down, the "Teresa" 
flying a white flag at the fore. 

The crew x s of the enemy's ships stripped themselves 'and began jumping 
overboard, and one of the smaller magazines began to explode. Meantime 
the " Brooklyn " and the " Cristobal Colon " were exchang- 
Driving the Ene- ing compliments in a lively fashion, but at apparently long 
my's Vessels range, and the " Oregon," with her locomotive speed, was 
On tothe"Rocks. hanging well on to the " Colon," also paying attention to 
the "Vizcaya." The "Teresa" and the "Oquendo" w T ere 
in flames on the beach just twenty minutes after the battle began, Fifty 
minutes after the first shot was fired the " Vizcaya put her helm to port with 
a great burst of flame from the after part of the ship, and headed for the 
rocks at Acerraderos, where she found her last resting place. 



HOW WE ANNIHILATED CERVERA'S SQUADRON. 



As it was apparent that the " Iowa " could not possibly catch the ' : Cris- 
tobal Colon," and that the " Oregon " and " Brooklyn " undoubtedly would, 
and as the fast " New York " was also on her trail, I 
decided that the calls of humanity should be answered Bodies Attacked 
and attention given to the twelve or fifteen hundred by Sharks. 
Spanish officers and men who had struck their colors to 
the American squadron commanded by Admiral Sampson. I therefore 
headed for the wreck of the "Vizcaya," now burning furiously fore and aft. 
When I was in as far as the depth of water would admit, I lowered all my 
boats and sent them at once to the assistance of the unfortunate men, who 
were being drowned by dozens or roasted on the decks. I soon discovered 
that the insurgent Cubans from the shore were shooting on men who were 
struggling in the water, after having* surrendered to us. I immediately put 
a stop to this, but I could not put a stop to the mutilation of many bodies 
by the sharks inside the reef. These creatures had become excited by the 
blood from the wounded mixing in the water. 

My boats' crews worked manfully, and succeeded in saving many of the 
wounded from the burning ship. One man, who has since been recommended 
for promotion, clambered up the side of the " Vizcaya " and saved three men 
from burning to death. The smaller magazines of the " Vizcaya " were 
exploding with magnificent cloud effects. The boats were coming alongside 
in a steady string, and willing hands were helping the lacerated Spanish 
officers and sailors on to the " Iowa's " quarter-deck. All the Spaniards 
were absolutely without clothes. Some had their legs torn off by fragments 
of shells. Others were mutilated in every conceivable way. 

The bottoms of the boats held two or three inches of blood. Five poor 
chaps died on the way to the ship and they were buried with military 
honors from the " Iowa." Some of the Spanish sailors were examples of 
heroism, or more properly, devotion to discipline and duty, such as may 
never be surpassed. One man on the lost " Vizcaya " had his left arm 
almost shot off just below the shoulder. The fragments were hanging by a 
small piece of skin. But he climbed unassisted over the side and saluted as 
if on a visit of ceremony. Immediately after him came a strong, hearty 
sailor, whose left leg had been shot off above the knee. He was hoisted on 
board the " Iowa " with a tackle, but never a whimper came from him. 
Gradually the mangled bodies and naked well men accumulated until it 
would have been almost difficult to recognize the " Iowa " as a United States 
battleship. 

Blood was all over her usually white quarter deck and 272 naked men 
were being supplied with water and food by those who a few minutes before 



HOW WK ANNIHILATED CKRVERA'S SQUADRON. 



had been using a rapid-fire battery on them. Finally came the boats with 
Captain Eulate, commander of the " Vizcaya," for whom a 
A Horrible Scene c ^ a « r was i owere d over t h e side, as he was evidently wounded. 

on the Ship Deck. J 

The captain's guard of marines were drawn up on _ the 
quarter-deck to salute him, and I stood waiting to welcome him. As the 
chair was placed on the deck the marines presented arms. Captain Eulate 
slowly raised himself in the chair, saluted me with grave dignity, unbuckled 
his sword belt and, holding the hilt of the sword before him, kissed it rever- 
ently, with tears in his eyes, and then surrendered it to me. 

Of course, I declined to receive his sword, and, as the crew of the 
" Iowa " saw this, they cheered like wild men. As I started to take Captain 
Eulate into the cabin to let the doctors examine his wounds the magazines 
on board the u Vizcaya " exploded, with a tremendous burst of flame. Cap- 
tain^Eulate, extending his hands, said, "Adios, 1 Vizcaya.' There goes my 
beautiful ship, captain," and so we passed on to the cabin, where the doctors 
dressed his three wounds. In the meantime thirty officers of the "Vizcaya" 
had been picked up, beside 272 of her crew. Our wardroom and steerage 
officers gave up their staterooms and furnished food, clothing and tobacco 
to these naked officers from the "Vizcaya." The paymaster issued uniforms 
to the naked sailors, and each was given all the corned beef, coffee and hard 
tack he could eat. The war had assumed another aspect. 

As I knew the crews of the first two ships wrecked had not been visited 
by any of our vessels, I ran down to them, where I found the " Gloucester " with 
Admiral Cervera and a number of his officers aboard, and also a large num- 
ber of wounded, some in a frightfully mangled condition. Many prisoners 
had been killed on shore by the fire of the Cubans. 

The " Harvard " came off, and I requested Captain Cotton to go in and 
take off the crews of the u Infanta Maria Teresa" and the "Almirante 
Oquendo," and by midnight the " Harvard " had 976 prisoners aboard, a 
great number of them wounded. 

For courage and dash there is no parallel in history to this action of the 
Spanish admiral. He went as he knew, to absolute destruction. There 
was one single hope; that was that the "Cristobal Colon" would steam 
faster than the " Brooklyn." The spectacle of two torpedo-boat destroyers, 
paper shells at best, deliberately steaming out in broad 
of'the'vanq fished daylight ' m the ^ ace °f the ^ re °f battleships can only be 
described in one way : It was Spanish, and it was ordered 
by Blanco. The same must be said of the entire movement. 

In contrast to this Spanish fashion was the cool, deliberate Yankee work. 
The American squadron was without sentiment apparently. The ships went 



HOW WK ANNIHILATED CERVKRA'S SQUADRON. 



175 



at their Spanish opponents and literally tore them to pieces. But the moment 
that the Spanish flag came down k must have been evident that the sentiment 
was among the Americans, not among the Spaniards. 

I took Admiral Cervera aboard the " Iowa " from the " Gloucester," 
which had rescued him from the dead, and received him with a full admiral's 
guard. The crew of the " Iowa " crowded aft over the turrets half naked 
and black with powder, as Cervera stepped over the side bareheaded. Over 
his undershirt he wore a thin suit of flannel borrowed from Lieutenant- 
Commander Wainwright, of the " Gloucester." The crew cheered vocifer- 
ously. Cervera was every inch an admiral, even if he had no hat. He 
submitted to the fortunes of war with a grace that proclaimed him a hero 
and a chivalrous gentleman. 

The " Iowa " fired 61 12-inch, 48 8-inch, 270 4-inch, 1,060 6-pound 
and 120 i-pound shots. 

The officers of the " Vizcaya " said they simply could not hold their crews 
at the guns on account of the rapid fire poured upon them. The decks were 
flooded with water from the fire hose and blood from the wounded made 
this a dark red. Fragments of bodies floated in this along the gun-deck. 
Every instant the crack of exploding shells told of new havoc. One of the 
12-inch shells from the " Iowa " exploded a torpedo in the " Vizcaya's " bow, 
blowing twenty-one men against the deck above and dropping them dead and 
mangled into the fire which at once started below. 

The flames leaping out from the huge shot holes in the " Vizcaya's " 
sides, licked up the decks, sizzling the flesh of the wounded who were lying 
there shrieking for help. Between the frequent explosions there came awful 
cries and groans from the men pinned in below. This carnage was chiefly 
due to the rapidity of the Americans' fire. Corporal Smith, of the " Iowa," 
fired 135 aimed shots in fifty minutes from a 4-inch gun. Two shells struck 
within ten feet of Smith and started a small fire, but the corporal went on 
pumping shots into the enemy, only stopping to say. " They've got it in for 
this gun, sir." 

From two 6-pounders 440 shots were fired in fifty minutes. Up in the 
tops -the marines banged away with i-pounders, too excited to step back as 
the shells whistled over them. One gunner of a secondary 
battery under a 12-inch gun was blinded by smoke and Nothing Could 

• ' . - - . ,. Drive the 

saltpetre from the turret, and his crew were driven off, Gunners Away, 
but sticking a wet handkerchief over his face, with holes 
cut for his eyes, he stood by his gun. Finally, as the 6-pounders were so 
close to the 8-inch turret as to make it impossible to remain there with 
safety, the men were ordered away before the big gun was fired, but they 



176 HOW WE ANNIHILATED CERVERA'S FLEET. 

refused to leave. When the 8-inch gun was fired the concussion blew two 
men of the smaller gun's crew ten feet from their guns, and threw them to 
the deck as deaf as posts. Back they went again, however, and were again 
blown away, and finally had to be dragged from their stations. Such bravery 
and such dogged determination under the heavy fire were of frequent 
occurrence on all the ships engaged. 

During his stay on the " Iowa " Admiral Cervera endeared himself to all. 
After Blanco's order was issued he wanted to come out on the night of July 
2, but General Linares said, " Wait till to-morrow morning. You will catch 
them at divine service then." 

The Spanish were not deceived in this belief, for religious exercises were 
in progress on most of the ships, but serving country is serving God, and so 
Cervera learned to his cost that the American sailor is true to both. 




4 



REMOVAL OF A JAMMED SHELL. 



177 



WAS IT SAMPSON OR WAS IT SCHLEY? 

WHEN the Spanish fleet with full headway, 
Dashed out of Santiago Bay, 
Taking the chances of death and wreck ; 
Who stood on a Yankee quarterdeck, 
And marked the game with eagle eye ; 
Say, was it Sampson or was it Schley ? 

Who was it, when shot and screaming shelly 

Turned Sabbath calm into echoing hell, 

Steamed into the thickest of the fray, 

His good ship leading all the way, 

While the roar of his guns shook earth and sky, 

Say, was it Sampson or was it Schley ? 

In American hearts who holds first place 

Of those who claim part in that glorious chase ? 

Whose name stood out on that proud day, 

As the hero of Santiago Bay ? 

In letters of gold write that name on high ; 

Shall we write it Sampson, or write it Schley ? 



REMOVAL OF A JAMMED SHELL WHILE UNDER THE 
FIRE OF THE ENEMY. 

By Paul St. C. Murphy, 

{Captain U. S. M. Corps of the " 'Brooklyn.") 

ONE of the bravest acts performed by an American sailor during the 
terrific engagement between our fleet and Cervera's squadron of 
July 3 was little written about at the time, but which deserves per- 
petuation in the pages of history as a conspicuous example of 
American valor, and an evidence of the courageous spirit that animates the 
defenders of our country when the most perilous service is required. 

At the moment the alarm was given that the enemy's ships were 
coming out of the harbor the guard was at quarters, ready for inspection. It 



i 7 8 



REMOVAL OF A JAMMED SHELL. 



was immediately dismissed and the men sent to their stations for battle. The 
men were full of enthusiasm, but there was no excitement or disorder, and 
apparently no concern for personal safety. The battery was handled with 
admirable coolness and deliberation. Greater care could not be taken in 
setting sights and aiming if the men had been at target practice and each 
striving to make a record score. 

Considering the fact that the enemy was within effective range during 
the greater part of the action, the fire of the secondary battery must have 
been most destructive to his men and material, and contributed its full 
share to bringing the battle to an end so speedily, and with so little loss to 
ourselves. It is reported that the Spanish officers have stated that so deadly 
was the effect of our secondary battery fire that it was impossible to keep 
their men at the guns. 

Where all did their duty manfully it is a difficult matter to select indi- 
viduals for special mention. There are some, however, who deserve to be 
remembered by name for conduct that displayed in a conspicuous manner 
courage, intelligence and devotion to duty. 

During the early part of the action a cartridge jammed 
SmiTh anid^ac^Ne'ai ^ n ^ e ^ ore °^ starboard 6-pounder of the " Brooklyn " 
and in the effort to withdraw it the case became detached 
from the projectile, leaving the latter fast in the bore and impossible to ex- 
tract from the rear. Corporal Robert Gray, of the port gun, asked and 
received permission to attempt to drive the shell out by means of a rammer. 
To do this it was necessary to go out on the gun, and the undertaking was 
full of difficulties and danger, the latter due in a great measure to the blast 
of the turret guns firing overhead. The gun was hot and it was necessary 
to cling to the jacob ladder with one hand while endeavoring with the other 
to manipulate the long rammer, Kftex a brave effort he was forced to give 
up and was ordered in. Quarter Gunner W. H. Smith then came, sent by 
the executive officer, and promptly placed himself in the dangerous position 
outside the gun port, where he worked and failed as the corporal had done. 
Neither had been able to get the rammer into the bore, and there seemed 
nothing left to do but dismount the gun. At this juncture Private MacNeal, 
one of the crew, volunteered to go out and make a final effort. The gun 
was so important, the starboard battery being engaged, that as a forlorn hope 
he was permitted to make the attempt. He pushed out boldly and set to 
work. The guns of the forward turret were firing, every blast nearly knock- 
ing him overboard and the enemy's shots were coming with frequency into 
his immediate neighborhood. It was at this time that Chief Yeoman Ellis 
was killed, on the other side of the deck. MacNeal never paused in his 



DESTRUCTION OF CERVERAS' TORPKDO-BOAT DESTROYERS. 179 



work. The rammer was finally placed in the bore and the shell ejected. 
The gun was immediately put in action and MacNeal resumed his duties as 
coolly as if what he had done was a matter of every day routine. 



DESTRUCTION OF CERVERA'S TORPEDO-BOAT 

DESTROYERS. 



By 




SHORTlyY after the outbreak of hostilities I was put in charge of Com- 
modore Morgan's yacht, the " Corsair." It had been bought by the 
government, renamed the " Gloucester," and fitted as an auxiliary 
vessel, being given a miniature battery of four 6-pounders, four 
3-pounders and two Colt automatic rifles. Four of the officers were regulars 
and five volunteers. Her crew numbered ninety-three men. 

The " Gloucester " was ordered to join Admiral Sampson's fleet, and 
proceeded via Key West and Banes to Santiago. When blockading off San- 
tiago her station was on the eastern end of the line and inshore of all the 
vessels, being off Aguadores in the daytime and off the Morro during the 
night. 

Sunday morning, July 3, she was in her usual station. This was the 
day when Cervera sailed out of Santiago Harbor. The fleet opened fire at 
once on the " Maria Teresa." We were heading out and commenced firing 
with our after guns. Our helm was put hard a-port, so that we turned 
toward the "Indiana" and in the direction taken by the enemy, and was 
kept a-port until we were heading at right angles to their column. We 
r ere in every way prepared for our work, the men being at quarters, with 
lenty of ammunition on deck, except for the time required to attain full 
peed. 

As soon as the enemy were sighted, orders were given to start the 
blowers, and we were quickly under a full head of steam. The enemy soon 
eveloped their tactics, such as they were. They evidently expected to 
take advantage of their high speed and escape past the western end of our 
"eet before we could destroy them. We of the " Gloucester" closed in 
toward the enemy, firing such guns as we could bring to bear. We were 



i8o DESTRUCTION OF CKRVBRA'S TORPEDO-BOAT DESTROYERS. 



near the M Indiana " and anxiously looking for the destroyers. They were 
not very far behind the armored cruisers, but the time appeared long as 
we slowed down to wait for them. 

As soon as the "Pluton" and "Furor" made their appearance our' 
duty was plain — we must prevent them from attacking one of our battleships. 

We started ahead at full speed and gradually closed in on 
D Dc t stroyers HC tnem > firing" as rapidly as possible. About this time we 
made out a signal from the " Indiana " to read : 
" Gunboats close in" 

I have since heard that Captain Taylor intended to signal "Torpedo 
boats coming out. ' ' To close in on the torpedo boats required us to cross the 
" Indiana's " line of fire, and as she was pouring in shell from her secondary 
battery, we were glad to feel secure that she would stop as we crossed her 
line. 

As we drew closer to the destroyers their fire became quite warm, and 
their projectiles and those from the forts appeared to hit all around us, and 
when their Maxim i-pounder started into play it seemed almost impossible 
for them to fail to hit us. But not a shot struck us, and there were men 
blown away from their guns before they got our range. When we were 
distant about twelve hundred yards we opened fire with our two 6-millimetre 
automatic Colt rifles. They poured a shower of bullets onto the decks of 
the destroyers and did great execution. 

As we gathered speed we commenced to close in on the " Pluton " and 
the " Furor " rapidly. Although built for twenty-eight and thirty knots, our 
seventeen knots good was too much for them. The " Pluton " soon began 
to slacken and then she stopped in the breakers. At this time the " Indiana " 
was rounding the point ahead to the westward and the " New York " was 
coming up rapidly from the direction of Siboney. 

When it was evident that the " Pluton " was done for, we concentrated 
our fire on the " Furor," and every shot appeared to take effect. Suddenly 
she jammed her helm hard a-starboard and made for us. It was evident that 
as our guns were too much for her she was going to try a torpedo. One of 
our prisoners told us after the battle that they made several attempts to fire 
a torpedo, but the crews were driven from the tubes by our own fire. 

With her helm still a-starboard, the " Furor " turned toward the entrance 
of the harbor, and the " New York," having approached until she was 
engaged with the principal shore batteries, fired two or three shots at her, 
fearing she might escape. But the " Furor's " helm was jammed, and she 
continued to circle to port, so the " New York," her crew cheering, continued 
under full steam after the escaping cruisers. 



DESTRUCTION OF CERVERA'S TORPEDO-BOAT DESTROYERS. i8x 



The " Pluton " had blown up and was on the rocks. The " Furor " 
was on fire, her helm jammed, and unable to continue the fight. We had 
been doing our best to destroy life ; now had come the time when we could 
commence to save the lives of our conquered enemies. The Socapa battery 
was firing at us still, and when we stopped the shells began to fall pretty 
close to us ; but as soon as our boats were lowered they ceased firing. 

The boats brought off every one who was alive on the burning wrecks 
of the " Pluton " and the " Furor," and also rescued those 
in the water and on the rocks. The trouble in getting Gal ^l***™* °* 
the Spaniards off the rocks was especially great, as they 
refused to jump into the water, and in some cases it was necessary to throw 
them in and then pull them into the boat. 

The complement of the " Furor " was sixty-seven and of the " Pluton " 
seventy men. Of these, nineteen were saved from the former and twenty-six 
from the latter. But it is known that a few swam ashore and managed to 
reach Santiago. 

Meanwhile the "Gloucester" had steamed on to where the "Infanta 
Maria Teresa" and the " Almirante Oquendo" were lying, wrecked and 
burning, on the shore. Each had white flags flying. They were burn- 
ing fore and aft ; their guns and reserve ammunition were exploding, and it 
was not known at what moment the fire would reach the main magazines. 
Moreover, a heavy sea was running just inside of the Spanish ships.. But no 
danger and no difficulty deterred the officers and men of the " Gloucester " 
until, in two small boats and a dingy, they had rescued all the survivors, 
including the wounded from the two burning ships. 



THE CUFFS OF SANTIAGO. 



THE CLIFFS OF SANTIAGO. 

By A. B. DkMixle. 
/k-pAHE Cliffs of Santiago, 



Their high, green forests waver 
To a wind of memory, 



All for the Spanish sailors 
Gone down beneath the sea. 

The Cliffs of Santiago, 

How they echoed back the roar 
When the fierce, gray warships battled 

Till the running fight was o'er, 
And the banked smoke hung to leeward 

Off bitter miles of shore ! 

The Cliffs of Santiago, 

Are fallen silent now ; 
There are ruined vessels grounded, 

Flame-blasted stern and bow — 
There many a lad is lying 

With death on cheek and brow. 

There's a many wife and mother 
In the pleasant land of Spain 

For to watch, and wait, and listen — 
But their watching's all in vain, 

And they'll watch a weary vigil 
Ere their lads come home again ! 

The Cliffs of Santiago, 

They dream above the sea ; 
They guard a reckless valor 

And a grief that aye shall be ; 
O the Cliffs of Santiago, 

And the calling of the sea I 




They front the quiet sea ; 



STORY OF A TORPEDO-BOAT DESTROYER, 183 



STORY OF A TORPEDO-BOAT DESTROYER*. 

THERE was a mile and more of smoke and flame and fighting 
stretching westward from the Morro before Cervera's torpedo boat 
destroyers steamed past the " Merrimac " and swung into the lane 
of fire marked out for them by the Admiral on that finest of morn- 
ings, July 3. 

Richard Wainwright, executive officer of the Maine, commanding the 
converted yacht " Gloucester," had run in toward the harbor mouth from 
his blockading station, which was a little to the eastward, and when the last 
of the Spanish cruisers was making her turn westward, the yacht was 
heading toward her. 

The big n-inch guns of the cruiser belched fire and smoke as she opened 
on the " Indiana." Her captain saw the " Gloucester," too, and evidently 
suspected that she might, attempt to torpedo him, so the guns of the sec- 
ondary battery were trained on the yacht and shells fell all about her. 
Wainwright, whose danger was great, answered, only steaming the closer. 
From our yacht " Golden Rod," which at that time was directly off shore 
from the " Gloucester," we watched in amazement. Smoke curled up over 
the yacht a moment later, and we knew that she was answering the cruiser 
with her 6-pound er. 

But that was only an incident to Wainwright. Eying closer in than 
the "Golden Rod " he had already seen what we did not see till later — the 
" Furor " and " Pluton " coming out of the harbor. We understood when 
we saw them that he was holding his position in spite of the cruiser's fire so 
that he might engage the destroyers at deadly range. The " Gloucester " is 
a torpedo-boat destroyer as the event proved, a destroyer of destroyers. 

I turned from the main battle for a second or two pretty often in the 
next few historical minutes, to see the yacht and the destroyers, and it was 
difficult to take one's eyes off them, for on the bridge of 
the " Golden Rod " men were saying of the " Gloucester " : i^ t ^T Anxiety 
" She's- gone ! They're both going straight at her ! Why 
doesn't he pull out? " But they didn't know " Dick " Wainwright. 

As the destroyers made the turn westward, every gun which could be 
trained on the " Gloucester " was fired, and her decks were wet by spray cast 
there by shells which struck about her. Worse still, the gunners in the 
battery beyond Morro w 7 ere throwing projectiles at the yacht, any one of 
which must destroy her at once if the aim were true. And at this time the 
last of the cruisers still fired at her. The - smallest of shells would have 



STORY OE A TORPEDO-BOAT DESTROYER. 



gone through her and any projectile was likely to cripple her and invite 
destruction. 

Wainwright only moved a little bit closer. Smoke hid the " Glouces- 
ter," the smoke of her own guns, and a man beside me called in fear, 
" They've sunk her ! " We all thought so. But out of the smoke-cloud her 
bow appeared at last. The destroyers were running parallel with the coast, 
seeking the refuge which would be theirs could they get between the larger 
Spanish ships and the shore. Wainwright steered their course, and so they 
fought broadside and broadside. 

They fired fast at first. The " Gloucester's '' guns were worked with 
inconceivable speed throughout. Often we thought her disabled or gone 
when the smoke closed about her. 

When we heard afterward that Wainwright had not lost a man we could 
not believe it, for the range was short, and once we knew his little craft was 
a target for a cruiser, the land batteries and the destroyers all together. 

The " Golden Rod's " men yelled — " yell " is the word — every time the 
yacht shook off the shroud of powder smoke, and whenever they saw the 
flame spurts of her guns dash out through it. They yelled more, you may 
be sure, when the first destroyer, winged and helpless, stopped in her flight 
westward, lost headway and course, and drifted into the surf. 

Wainwright moved closer to the other. The big ships were pounding 
this one, too. Even the " New York," hurrying up from the eastward, 
threw a shell or two — four, I believe—at the black Span- 
How the iard, but they were scarcely needed. She was on fire, and 

"Corsair" 

Spat Fire. ner men nao ^ ^ on g been unable to work their guns effect- 
ively. And still the old " Corsair " — for the "Gloucester " 
was the " Corsair " — spat fire and buried herself in the smoke of battle. 
And all the time Wainwright moved a little closer. The second destroyer 
struck her colors and went ashore blazing. 

Wainwright moved on then to the work of rescue, which was as peril- 
ous as his work of destruction had been. It was he who received the Span- 
ish Admiral, and courteously congratulated him upon the gallant fight he 
had made, using memorable words which Cervera will treasure until he dies. 

Men have spoken of many participants in the battle of Santiago as 
typical American soldiers and seamen. Surely all must accord a seat of 
honor in that company to Richard Wainwright, of the " Gloucester " — 
gallant, calm, ever moving a little nearer to the enemy while the battle 
lasted ; a lion in the work of rescuing the vanquished and succoring the 
dying ; courteous^ perfect in his reception of the Admiral whose fieet he 
had helped to destroy. 



SUCCESS OF OUR ARMY IN CUBA. 185 

SUCCESS OF OUR ARMY IN CUBA. 



By 




TO comprehend the difficulties of such a campaign as our army con- 
ducted before the well-fortified and strongly-garrisoned city of 
Santiago, it must be remembered that this government has only 
on one previous occasion sent troops to a foreign country, and 
that was over fifty years ago. It is true that our soldiers went through a 
good deal of discomfort and suffering, but this was incident to the campaign, 
and I don't think that the administration neglected any duty to the army 
which it was possible to foresee. 

The army was a superb body of brave men. It is true, we were short 
of transportation, but the expectation when we left Tampa was that we 
would land very near the city. The officers and men landed cheerfully. 

Nine hundred and sixty-four dismounted cavalrymen attacked and routed 
fully two thousand Spaniards at Las Quasima June 24, and on July 1, Kent's 
division and the cavalry divisions, numbering about six thousand men, 
waded the San Juan River ; the forward line under a heavy fire from the 
Spanish earthworks, then advanced to an open plain and charged the enemy's 
works at San Juan forts and the intrenchments which crowned the hill upon 
which the fort stood. 

At the same time General L,awton with like force attacked and captured 
the fort at El Caney, about five miles to the north of Santiago. The position 
assaulted and captured by Kent's division and the cavalry divisions placed 
the army on a ridge which overlooked the city, and this enabled General 
Shafter to circumvent the entire Spanish line and compel their surrender, 
which was accomplished on July 16. 

The success of the army was due to the superb gallantry and fortitude 
of our men. It showed that the sons of those who fought the great battles 
of thirty years ago were inspired by the same brave spirit which animated 
their fathers. 

I deeply deplore the undeserved censure that uninformed and thought- 
less persons have heaped upon the administration for not having taken better 
measures for the care of the army in Cuba. This criticism does not emanate 
from the soldiers who fought the battles. They understand the difficulties 



i86 



BOMBARDMENT OF SANTIAGO. 



attending an expedition so hurriedly organized. They cheerfully bore all the 
hardships for they realized that the administration was doing everything in 
its power for their comfort. 

I think the result of the war will bring very far-reaching benefits to 
our country. It gives us a commanding position throughout the world, and 
the trade expansion which will follow within a very short time will more 
than pay the expenses which we incurred. 



BOMBARDMENT OF SANTIAGO. 



Terrible Effects of Shells Bursting in the Streets of the Old City. 

By a Seaman of the Cruiser u New York." 

BEFORE the hour of five o'clock of the morning of July 2 ^1898), the 
crew of the flagship " New York " was astir, eating a hurried break- 
fast. At 5.50, " general quarters " was sounded and the flagship 
headed in towards Aguadores, about three miles east of Monro 
Castle. The other ships retained their blockading stations. 

Along the surf-beaten shore the smoke of an approaching train from 
Altares was seen. It was composed of open cars, full of General Dufheld's 
troops. At the cutting, a mile east of Aguadores, the train stopped and the 
Cuban scouts proceeded along the railroad track. The troops got out of the 
cars and soon formed in a long, thin line, standing out vividly against 
the yellow rocks that rose perpendicularly above, shutting them off from 
the main body of the army, which was on the other side of the hill several 
miles north. 

From the quarter of the flagship there was a signal, 
^s^stabHshed" a vigorously wigwagged letter, and a few minutes later 
from a lump of green at the water's edge came an answer 

from the army. 

This was the first co-operation for offensive purposes between the army 
and navy. The landing of the army at Baiquiri and Altares was purely a 
naval affair. 

With the flag in his hand the soldier ashore looked like a butterfly. 
" Are you waiting for us to begin ? " was the signal made by Rear-Admiral 
Sampson to the army. " General Duffield is ahead with the scouts," came 
the answer from the shore to the flagship. By this time it was seven o'clock 



BOMBARDMENT OF SANTIAGO. 



and the admiral ran the flagship's bow within three-quarters of a mile of the 
beach. She remained almost as near during the forenoon. The daring way 
she was handled by Captain Chad wick, within sound of the breakers, made 
the Cuban pilot on board stare with astonishment. 

The " Suwanee " was in company with the flagship, still closer in shore, 
and the " Gloucester " was to the westward, near Morro Castle. From the 
southward the " Newark " came up and took a position to the westward. 
Her decks were black with sixteen hundred or more troops. She went 
alongside of the flagship, and was told to disembark the soldiers at Alcires. 
Then Admiral Sampson signaled to General Duffield : " When do you want 
us to commence firing ?" 

In a little while a white flag on shore sent back the answer : " When 
the rest of the command arrives. Then I will signal you." 

It was a long and tedious wait for the ships before ^he-Uoops* 
the second fifty carloads of troops came puffing along from 
Altares. -By 9.30 the last of the soldiers had left the open railroad tracks, 
disappearing in the thick brush that covered the eastern side of Aguadores 
inlet. The water in the sponge tubs under the breeches of the big guns was 
growing hot in the burning sun. Ashore there were no sign of the enemy. 
They were believed to be on the western bluff. Between the bluffs runs a 
rocky gully leading into Santiago city. On the extremity of the western 
arm was an old, castellated fort, from which the Spanish flag was flying, and 
|ti tl e parapet on the eastern hill, commanding the gully, two stretches of 
red earth could easily be seen against the brush. These were the rifle pits. 

At 10.15 a signal flag ashore wigwagged to Admiral 
Sampson to commence firing, and a minute later the " New Firing is Begun. 
York " guns blazed away at the rifle pits and at the old 
fort. The u Suwanee " and " Gloucester " joined in the echoes, which 
rumbled around and filled the gully. All the stored-up thunder of the 
clouds seemed to have broken loose, and smoke soon rose over the hills, and 
the gully was shut out from view. Then the firing became more deliberate. 

Of our troops ashore in the brush nothing could be seen, but the " ping," 
" ping," of the small arms of the army floated out to sea during the occa- 
sional lull in the firing of the big guns, which peppered the rifle pits until 
clouds of red earth rose above them. 

An 8-inch shell from the "Newark" dropped in the massive old fort 
and clouds of white dust and huge stones filled the air. When the small 
shells hit its battlements, almost hidden by green creepers, fragments of 
masonry came tumbling down. A shot from the " Suwanee " hit the 
eastern parapet and it crumbled away like a mummy exposed to the air 



BOMBARDMENT OF SANTIAGO. 



after long years. Amid the smoke and debris the flagstaff was seen to fall 
forward. u The flag has been shot down," shouted the ship's crews, but 
when the smoke cleared away the emblem of Spain was seen to be still 
flying and blazing brilliantly in the sun, though the flagstaff was bending 
toward the earth. Apparently the flagstaff had been caught firmly in the 
wreckage of the fort. A few more shots leveled the battlements until the 
old castle was a pitiable sight. 

When the firing ceased, Lieutenant Delehanty, of the 

Three Shots « § uwanee » was anxious to finish his work, so he signaled 
at Spanish Flag. ' . 

to the " New York," asking permission to knock down the 

Spanish flag. u Yes," replied Admiral Sampson, " if you can do it in three 
shots." The " Suwanee " then lay about sixteen hundred yards from the 
old fort. She took her time. Lieutenant Blue carefully aimed the 4-inch 
gun and the crews of all the ships watched the incident amid intense 
excitement. When the smoke of the " Suwanee's " first shot cleared away, 
only two red streamers of the flag were left. The shell had gone through 
the center of the bunting. A delighted yell broke from the crew of the 
" Suwanee." Two or three minutes later the u Suwanee " fired again and a 
huge cloud of debris rose from the base of the flagstaff. For a few seconds 
it was impossible to tell the effect of the shot. Then it was seen that the 
shell had only added to the ruin of the fort. The flagstaff seemed to have a 
charmed existence and the " Suwanee " only had one chance left. It seemed 
hardly possible for her to achieve her object with the big gun, uch a 
distance and such a tiny target. There was breathless silence among tne 
watching crews. They crowded on the ship's decks and all eyes were on 
that tattered rag, bending toward the earth from the top of what once had 
been a grand old castle. But it is only bending, not yet down. 

Lieutenant-Commander Delehanty and Lieutenant 
Third Shot Blue tQok their time> The « Suwanee » changed her 

Brings it Down. & 

position slightly. Then a puff of smoke shot from her 

side. Up went ,a spouting cloud of debris from the parapet and down fell 
the banner of Spain. Such yells from the flagship will probably never be 
heard again. There was more excitement than is witnessed at the finish of 
a college boat race or a popular race between first-class thoroughbreds on 
some big track. The " Suwanee's " last shot had struck right at the base of 
the flagstafT and had blown it clear of the wreckage which had held it. " Well 
done," signaled Admiral Sampson to Lieutenant-Commander Delehanty. 

At 11.30 General Duffield signaled that his scouts reported that no 
damage had been done to the Spanish rifle pits by the shells from the ships 
and Admiral Sampson told him they had been hit several times, but there 



THE STORY OE SANTIAGO'S DOWNFAU,. 



was no one in the pits. However the " Suwanee " was ordered to fire a few 
more shots in their direction. 

At 12.18 p. m., the "New York," having discontinued firing at Agua- 
dores, began firing 8-inch shells clear over the gully into 
the city of Santiago de Cuba. Every five minutes the shells ^* Santiago 
went roaring over the hillside, and though the distance 
was fully four miles, the range was so accurately gauged that nearly all of 
them fell within the populous district of the city, doing very great damage. 
After the rifle pits had been cleared of Spaniards the " Oregon " came up and 
began hurling 8-inch shells over the high hills, into the city, one of which 
struck a church and razed it to the ground, besides killing several soldiers 
who were in the street nearby. As the city was entirely hidden from our 
view by intervening hills, it was not possible at the time to know the effects 
of our firing, but after the surrender, inquiry and inspection disclosed that 
terrific havoc had been wrought to buildings, though fortunately few lives 
were destroyed. 



THE STORY OF SANTIAGO'S DOWNFALL. 



By 




THE expedition against Santiago, which I had the honor of command- 
ing, was undertaken in compliance with instructions of May 30 
from headquarters of the army, which were thus briefly given : 

"Admiral Schley reports that two cruisers and two torpedo 
boats have been seen in the harbor of Santiago. Go with your force to 
capture garrison at Santiago and assist in capturing harbor and fleet." 

At the time of receiving this order the troops assembled at Tampa were 
poorly prepared to enter upon the perils of an invasion of Cuba. Many of 
the volunteer soldiers were insufficiently drilled, and lack of transportation 
facilities for moving the cavalry were such that it was impossible to act 
promptly upon the order received June 7, and it was not until June 14 
that sufficient transports were provided, upon which were embarked 
16,072 men and 815 officers. This expedition was convoyed by a squadron 
of our best ships and succeeded in landing at Baiquiri, fourteen miles from 
Santiago, 011 the 20th to 2 2d. Directly after anchoring the transports off the 



190 



THE STORY OF SANTIAGO'S "DOWNFALL. 



Cuban coast, I had an interview with General Garcia, who offered the services 
of his troops, comprising about 4,000 men in the vicinity of Asseraderos, and 
about 500 under General Castillo at the little town of Cujababo, a few miles 
east of Baiquiri. I accepted his offer, impressing it upon him that I could 
exercise no military control over him except such as he would concede, and 
as long as he served under me I would furnish him rations and ammunition. 

After conferring with Admiral Sampson and General Garcia, I outlined 
the plan of campaign. The disembarkation was to be completed on the 
twenty-second at Baiquiri, with feints by the Cubans on Cabanas and by the 
navy at various shore points, in order to mislead the enemy as to the place 
of landing. These movements permitted me to approach Santiago from 
the east over a narrow road, at first in some places not better than a trail, 
running from Baiquiri through Siboney and Seville, and making attack 
from that quarter. This, in my judgment, was the only feasible plan, and 
subsequent information and results confirmed my judgment. 

In pursuance of this plan General Young's brigade passed beyond Law- 
ton on the nights of the twenty-third and twenty-fourth, thus taking the 
advance, and on the morning of the latter date became 
La^u'^sima engaged with a Spanish force intrenched in a strong posi- 
tion at La Guasima, a point on the Santiago road about 
three miles from Siboney. General Young's force consisted of one squadron 
of the First Cavalry, one of the Tenth Cavalry and two of the First United 
States Volunteer Cavalry ; in all, 964 officers and men. The enemy made 
an obstinate resistance, but were driven from the field with considerable loss. 
Our own casualty was one officer and fifteen men killed ; six officers and forty- 
six men wounded. The reported losses of the Spaniards were nine killed and 
twenty-seven wounded. The engagement had an inspiring effect upon our 
men and, doubtless, correspondingly depressed the enemy, as it was now 
plainly demonstrated to them that they had a foe to meet who would advance 
upon them under a heavy fire delivered from intrenchments. General 
Wheeler, division commander, was present during the engagement, and 
reported that our troops, officers and men fought with the greatest gallantry. 
This engagement gave us a well watered country farther to the front, on 
which to encamp our troops. 

It was not until nearly two weeks after the army landed that it was 
possible to place on shore three days' supplies in excess of those required for 
the daily consumption. 

On June 30 I reconnoitered the country about Santiago and made my 
plan of attack. From a high hill, from which the city was in plain view, I 
could see the San Juan hill and the country about Kl Caney. The roads were 



THE STORY OF SANTIAGO'S DOWNFALL. 191 

very poor and indeed little better than bridle paths until the San Juan 
river and El Caney were reached. 

Lawton's Division, assisted by Capron's Light Battery, was ordered to 
move out during the afternoon toward El Caney, to begin the attack there 
early the next morning. After carrying El Caney, Lawton was to move by 
the Caney road toward Santiago and take position on the right of the line. 
Wheeler's Division of dismounted cavalry and Kent's Division of infantry 
were directed on the Santiago road, the head of the column resting near 
El Pozo, toward which heights Grimes' battery moved on the afternoon of 
the thirtieth, with orders to take position there early the next morning, and 
at the proper time prepare the way for the advance of Wheeler and Kent on 
San Juan hill. The attack at this point was to be delayed until Lawton's 
guns were heard at El Caney and his infantry fire showed he had become 
well engaged. 

The preparations were far from what I desired them to be, but we were 
in a sickly climate, our supplies had to be brought forward by a narrow 
wagon road, which the rains might at any time render 
impassable ; fear was entertained that a storm might drive ^qXT 'Battle" 
the vessels containing our stores to sea, thus separating us 
from our base of supplies, and lastly, it was reported that General Pando, 
with 8,000 reinforcements for the enemy, was en route from Manzanillo, 
and might be expected in a few days. Under these conditions I determined 
to give battle without delay. 

Early on the morning of July 1, Lawton was in a position around El 
Caney ; Chaffee's Brigade on the right, across the Guantanamo road ; Miles' 
Brigade in the centre and Ludlow's on the left. The duty of cutting off the 
enemy's retreat along the Santiago road was assigned to the latter brigade. 
The artillery opened on the town at 6.15 a. m. The battle here soon became 
general and was hotly contested. The enemy's position was naturally strong, 
and was rendered more so by block houses, a stone fort and intrenchments 
cut in solid rock and the loop-holing of a solidly built stone church. 
The opposition offered by the enemy was greater than had been antici- 
pated, -and prevented Lawton from joining the right of the main line 
during the day as had been intended.' After the battle had continued 
for sot le time, Bates' Brigade of two regiments reached my headquar- 
ters from Siboney. I directed him to move near El Caney to give 
assistance, if necessary. He did so, and was put in position between 
Miles and Chaffee.- The battle continued with varying intensity during most 
of the day, and until the place was carried by assault about 4.30 p. m. As 
the Spaniards endeavored to retreat along the Santiago road, Ludlow's 



7 



THE STORY OF SANTIAGO'S DOWNFAU,. 



position enabled him to do very effective work and to practically cut off 
all the retreat in that direction. 

After the battle at El Caney was well opened, and the sound of the 
small arm fire caused us to believe that Lawton was driving the enemy 

before him, I directed Grimes' battery to open fire from 
Battery ^ e ne i§ nts °f El Pozo on the San ' Juan block house, 

which could be seen situated in the enemy's intrench- 
merj\S extending along the crest of San Juan hill. The fire was effective, 
and the enemy could be seen running away from the vicinity of the block 
house. The artillery fire from El Pozo was soon returned by the enemy's 
artillery. They evidently had the range of this Jiill, and their first shells 
killed and wounded several men. As the Spaniards used smokeless powder, 
it was very difficult to locate the position of their pieces, while on the con- 
trary the smoke caused by our black powder plainly indicated the location 
of our battery. * 

At this time the cavalry division under General Sumner, which was 
lying concealed in the general vicinity of the El Pozo house, was ordered 
forward, with directions to cross the San Juan river and deploy to the right 
on the Santiago side, while Kent's Division was to follow closely in its rear 
and deploy to the left. 

These troops moved forward in compliance with orders, but the road 
was so narrow as to render it impracticable to retain the column-of-fours 
formation at all points, while the undergrowth on either side was so dense 
as to preclude the possibility of deploying skirmishers. It naturally resulted 
that the progress made was slow, and the long range rifles of the enemy's 
infantry killed and wounded a number of our men while marching along 
this road, and before there was any opportunity to return this fire. At this 
time Generals Kent and Sumner were ordered to push forward with all possi- 
ble haste, and place their troops in position to engage the enemy. General 
Kent, with this end in view, forced the head of his column alongside of the 
cavalry column as fast as the narrow trail permitted, and thus hurried his 
arrival at the San Juan and the formation beyond that stream. A few hun- 
dred yards before reaching the San Juan the road forks, a fact that was dis- 
covered by Lieutenant Colonel Derby, of my staff, who had approached well 
to the front in a war balloon. This information he furnished to the troops, 
resulting in Sumner moving on the left-hand road, while Kent was enabled 
to utilize the road to the right. 

General Wheeler, the permanent commander of the cavalry division, who 
had been ill, came forward during the morning, and later returned to duty, and 
rendered most gallant and efficient service during the remainder of the day. 



THE STORY OF SANTIAGO'S DOWNFALL. T93 



After crossing the stream the cavalry moved to the right, with a view 
of connecting with Lawton's left when he could come up, and with their 
left resting near the Santiago road. 

In the meantime Kent's Division, with the exception of two regiments 
of Hawkins' Brigade, being thus uncovered, moved rapidly to the front from 
the forks in the road previously mentioned, utilizing both 
trails, but more especially the one to the left, and crossing Bri gad c s^ered 
the creek, formed for attack in the front of San Juan hill. 
During this formation, the Second Brigade suffered severely. While person- 
ally superintending this movement, its gallant commander, Commodore 
Wikoff, was killed. The command of the brigade then devolved upon 
Lieutenant-Colonel Worth, Thirteenth Infantry, who was soon severely 
wounded, and next upon Lieutenant-Colonel Liscum, Twenty-fourth Infan- 
try, who five minutes later also fell under the terrible fire of the enemy, and 
the command of the brigade then devolved upon Lieutenant-Colonel Ewers, 
Ninth Infantry. 

While the formation just described was taking place, General Kent 
took measures to hurry forward his rear brigade. The Tenth and Second 
Infantry were ordered to follow Wikoff's Brigade, while the Twenty-first was 
sent on the right hand road to support the First Brigade, under General 
Hawkins, who crossed the stream and formed on the right of the division. 
The Second and Tenth Infantry, Colonel E. P. Pearson commanding, moved 
forward in good order on the left of the division, passed over a green knoll, 
and drove the enemy back toward his trenches. 

After completing their formation under a destructive fire, and advancing 
a short distance, both divisions found in their front a wide bottom, in which 
had been placed a barbed wire entanglement, and beyond 
which there was a high hill, along the crest of which ^IrricadcaT 
the enemy was strongly posted. Nothing daunted, these 
gallant men pushed on to drive the enemy from his chosen position, both 
divisions losing heavily. In this assault, Colonel Hamilton, Lieutenants 
Smith and Ship were killed, and Colonel Carroll, Lieutenants Thayer and 
Myer, all in the cavalry, were wounded. 

In this fierce encounter words fail to do justice to the gallant regi- 
mental commanders and their heroic men, for while the generals indicated 
the formations and the points of attack, it was, after all, the intrepid bravery 
of the subordinate officers and men that planted our colors on the crest of 
San Juan hill and drove the enemy from his trenches and blockhouses, thus 
gaining a position which sealed the fate of Santiago. 

In this action on the part of the field, most efficient service was 
13 



r 9 4 



THE STORY OF SANTIAGO'S DOWNFALL. 



rendered by Lieutenant John H. Parker, Thirteenth Infantry, and the Gatling 
gun detachment under his command. The fighting continued at intervals 
until nightfall, but our men held resolutely to the positions gained at the 
cost of so much blood and toil. 

I am greatly indebted to General Wheeler, who, as previously stated, 
returned from the sick list to duty during the period. His cheerfulness and 
aggressiveness were efficiently felt on this occasion, and the assistance he 
furnished at various stages of the battle proved to be the most useful. 

My own health was impaired by over-exertion in the sun ard intense 
heat of the day before, which prevented me from participating as actively 
in the battle as I desired, but from a hill near my 

"mpaired 11 headquarters I had a general view of the battlefield, 
extending from HI Caney on the right to the left of our 
lines on San Juan hill. 

General Duffield, with the Thirty-third Michigan, attacked Aguadores, 
as ordered, but was unable to accomplish more than to detain the Spaniards 
in that vicinity. 

On the night of July I, I ordered General Duffield, at Siboney, to send 
forward the Thirty-fourth Michigan and the Ninth Massachusetts, both of 
which had just arrived from the United States. These regiments reached 
the front the next morning. 

All day on the second the battle raged w T ith more or less fury, but such 
of our troops as were in a position at daylight held their ground, and Lawton 
gained a strong and commanding position on the right. 

About 10 p. m. the enemy made a vigorous assault to break through 

our lines, but he was repulsed at all points. 

The Battle ^ e morning of the third the battle was renewed, 

Renewed. ° ' 

but the enemy seemed to have expended his energy in the 

assault of the previous night, and the firing along the lines was desultory, 
until stopped by my sending the following letter within the Spanish lines. 

Headquarters Fifth Army Corps, 

Camp near San Juan River, Cuba, July 6. 
The General-in-Chief command mg the Spanish forces, Santiago de Cuba: 

Sir : — In view of the events of the third instant I have the honor to lay before your 
Excellency certain propositions, to which I trust your Excellency will give the consideration 
which in my opinion they deserve. 

2. I inclose a bulletin of the engagement of Sunday morning, which resulted in the com- 
plete destruction of Admiral Cervera's fleet, the loss of 600 of his officers and men, and the 
capture of the remainder. The Admiral, General Paredes and all others -who escaped alive are 
now prisoners on board the " Harvard " and "St. Louis," and the latter ship, in which are the 
Admiral, General Paredes and the surviving captains (all except the captain of the " Almirante 
0(,iieudo," who was killed), has already sailed for the United States- 



THE STORY OF SANTIAGO'S DOWNFALL. 



i95 



If desired by you, this may be confirmed by your Excellency sending an officer under a 
flag of truce to Admiral Sampson and he can arrange a visit to the " Harvard," which will not 
sail until to-morrow, and obtain the details from Spanish officers and men aboard that ship. 

3. Our fleet is now perfectly free to act, and I have the honor to state that unless a surrender 
be arranged by noon of the ninth instant, a bombardment of the city will be begun and con- 
tinued with the heavy guns of our ships. The city is within easy range of these guns, the 
8-inch being capable of firing 9,500 yards, the 13-inch of course much further. The ships can so 
lie that with a range of 8,000 yards they can reach the centre of the city. 

4. I make this suggestion of a surrender purely in a humanitarian spirit. I do not wish to 
cause the slaughter of any more men either of your Excellency's forces or our own; the final 
result under circumstances so disadvantageous to your Excellency being a foregone conclusion. 

5. As your Excellency may wish to make reference of so momentous a question to your 
Excellency's home government, it is for this purpose that I have placed the time of the resump- 
tion of hostilities sufficiently far in the future to allow a xeply being received. 

6. I beg an early answer from your Excellency. 

I have the honor to be, 

Your Excellency's obedient servant, 

W. R. Shafter, 

Major- General. 

I was of the opinion that the Spaniards would surrender if given a 
little time, and I thought this result would be hastened if the men of their 
army could be made to understand they would be well treated as prisoners 
of war. Acting upon this presumption I determined to offer to return all 
the wounded Spanish officers at El Caney who were able to bear transporta- 
tion and who were willing to give their paroles not to serve against the forces 
of the United States until regularly exchanged. This offer was made and 
accepted. These officers, as well as several of the wounded Spanish privates, 
twenty-seven in all, were sent to their lines under the escort of some of our 
mounted cavalry. Our troops were received with honors, and I have every 
reason to believe the return of the Spanish prisoners produced a good im- 
pression on their comrades. 

The cessation of firing about noon on the third practically terminated the 
battle of Santiago ; all that occurred after this time may 
properly be treated under the head of the siege that fol- * i. u !V! n 

r J « the Fighting. 

lowed. After deducting the detachments retained at Sib- 
oney and Baiquiri to render those depots secure from attack, organizations , 
held to protect our flanks, others acting as escorts and guards to light bat- 
teries, the members of the hospital corps, guards left in charge of blanket 
rolls, which the intense heat caused the men to cast aside before entering 
battle, orderlies, etc., it is doubtful if we had more than twelve thousand 
men on the firing line on July 1, when the battle was fiercest and when the 
important and strong positions of El Caney and San Juan were captured. 

A few Cubans assisted in the attack at El Caney and fought valiantly, 
but their numbers were too small to materially change the strength, as 



196 THE STORY OF SANTIAGO'S DOWNFAU* 



indicated above. The enemy confronted us with numbers about equal to oui 
own ; they fought obstinately in strong and intrenched positions, and the 
results obtained clearly indicate the intrepid gallantry of the company, 
officers and men, and the benefits derived from the careful training and 
instruction given in the company in recent years in rifle practice and other 
battle exercises. Our losses in these battles were twenty-two officers and 
208 men killed, and eighty-one officers and 1,203 men wounded; missing, 
seventy-nine. The missing, with few exceptions, reported later. 

The arrival of General Bscario at Santiago was not anticipated. Gen- 
eral Garcia, with between four and five thousand Cubans, was entrusted with 
the duty of watching for and intercepting the reinforcements expected. 
This, however, he failed to do, and Bscario passed into the city along on my 
extreme right, near the bay. 

After the destruction of Cervera's fleet I again called on the Spanish 
commander to surrender. On the same date I informed Admiral Sampson 
that if he would force his way into the harbor the city would surrender 
without any further sacrifice of life. Commodore Watson replied that 
/Admiral Sampson was temporarily absent, but that in his (Watson's) opinion 
the navy should not enter the harbor. 

The strength of the enemy's position was such I did not wish to assault, 
if it could be avoided. An examination of the enemy's works, made after 
the surrender, fully justified the wisdom of the course adopted. The in- 
trenchments could only have been carried with very great loss of life. 

On the eleventh the surrender was again demanded. 

the Trenches ^ ^ s ^ a * e s ^ c ^ ness ^ n ^ ne arm y was increasing very 
rapidly, as a result of exposure in the trenches to the 
intense heat of the sun and the heavy rains. Moreover, the dews in Cuba 
are almost equal to rains. The weakness of the troops was becoming so 
apparent I was anxious to bring the siege to an end, but, in common with 
most of the officers of the army, I did not think an assault would be justi- 
fiable, especially as the enemy seemed to be acting in good faith in their pre- 
liminary propositions to surrender. 

July 12, I informed the Spanish Commander that 

Arrival of Maior-General Miles, commander-in-chief of the American 
General Miles. J . > . 

Army, had just arrived m my camp, and requested him to 

grant us a personal interview on the following day. He replied he would 
be pleased to meet us. The interview took place on the thirteenth, and I in- 
lormed him his surrender only could be considered, and that as he was with- 
out hope of escape he had no right to continue the fight. This hopeless 
condition was frankly admitted by General Toral, who after communicating 



THE STORY OF SANTIAGO'S DOWNFALL. 



to General Blanco his situation, surrendered his army, together with all the 
Spanish soldiers in the province of Santiago. 

Before closing I wish to dwell upon the natural obstacles I had to en- 
counter, and which no foresight could have overcome or obviated. The 
rocky and precipitous coast afforded, no sheltered landing places, the roads 
were mere bridle paths, the effect of the tropical sun and rains upon unao 
climated troops was deadly, and the dread of strange and unknown diseases 
had its effect on the army. 

At Baiquiri the landing of the troops and stores was made at a small 
wooden wharf, which the Spaniards tried to burn, but unsuccessfully, and 
the animals were pushed into the water and guided to a sandy beach about 
two hundred yards in extent. At Siboney the landing was made on the 
beach, and a small wharf erected by the engineers. 

In spite of the fact that I had nearly one thousand men continuously 
at work on the roads, they were at times impassable for 
wagons. The San Juan and Aguadores rivers would often Horrl biVRoads I 
suddenly rise so as to prevent the passage of wagons, and 
then the eight pack trains with the command had to be depended upon for 
the victualing of my army, as well as the 20,000 refugees who could not, in 
the interests of humanity, be left to starve while we had rations. Often for 
days nothing could be moved except on pack trains. 

In reference to the sick and wounded, I have to say that they received 
every attention that it was possible to give them. The 
medical officers, without exception, worked night and day S ' C ^ . 

' . . and Wounded. 

to alleviate the suffering, which was no greater than inva- 
riably accompanies a campaign. It would have been better if we had had 
more ambulances, but as many were taken as was thought were necessary, 
judging from previous campaigns. 



198 GENERAL SH AFTER' S ADDRESS TO HIS ARMY. 



GENERAL SHAFTER'S ADDRESS TO HIS ARMY. 

WHEN the perils were past, the victory won, and the graves were 
closed above the , heroes who fell on bloody fields about San- 
tiago, Major-General Shafter issued, under date of July 19, 1898, 
the following address to his victorious army : 
" The successful accomplishment of the campaign against Santiago, 
resulting in its downfall and the surrender of the Spanish forces and the 
capture of large amounts of military stores, together with the destruction 
of the entire Spanish fleet in the harbor, which, upon the investment of the 
city, was forced to leave, is one of which this army can well be proud. This 
has been accomplished through the heroic deeds of the army, and to its 
officers and men the major-general commanding offers his sincere thanks, 
for their endurance of hardships heretofore unknown in the American 
army. 

" The work you have accomplished may well appeal to the pride of 
your countrymen, and has been rivaled upon but few occasions in the 
world's history. Landing upon an unknown coast, you faced dangers in dis- 
embarking and overcame obstacles that, even in looking back, seem insur- 
mountable. 

" Seizing, with the assistance of the navy, the towns of Baiquiri and 
Siboney, you pushed boldly forth, gallantly driving back the enemy's out- 
post in the engagement of Las Quasima, and completed the concentration of 
the enemy near Sevilla, within sight of the Spanish stronghold at Santiago 
de Cuba. The outlook from Sevilla was one that might well have appalled 
the stoutest heart. Behind you ran a narrow road, made well nigh impassa- 
ble by rains, while to the front you looked out upon high foothills 
covered with a dense tropical growth, which could only be traversed by 
bridle paths, terminating within range of the enemy's guns. 

" Nothing deterred, you responded eagerly to the order to close upon 
the foe, and, attacking at Caney and San Juan, drove him from work to 
work until he took refuge within his last and strongest entrenchments, 
immedicuely surrounding the city. 

" Despite the fierce glare of a Southern sun and rains that fell in 
torrents, you valiantly withstood his attempts to drive you from the position 
your valor had won. Holding in your vise-like grip the army opposed to 
you, after seventeen days of battle and siege, you were rewarded by the sur- 
render of nearly 24,000 prisoners, 12,000 being those in your immediate 



THE SANTIAGO CAMPAIGN. 



199 



front, the others scattered in the various towns of Eastern Cuba, freeing 
completely the eastern part of the island from Spanish troops. 

u This was not done without great sacrifices. The death of 230 gallant 
soldiers and the wounding of 1,284 others shows but too plainly the fierce 
contest in which you were engaged. The few reported missing are undoubt- 
edly among the dead, as no prisoners were lost. 

" For those who have fallen in battle with you, the commanding general 
sorrows, and, with you, will ever cherish their memory. Their devotion to 
duty sets a high example of courage and patriotism to our fellow-country- 
men. All who have participated in the campaign, battle and siege of San- 
tiago de Cuba will recall with pride the grand deeds accomplished, and will 
hold one another dear for having shared in the suffering, hardships and 
triumphs together. All may well feel proud to inscribe on their banners 
the name of Santiago de Cuba. # 

" By command of Major-General Shafter. 

U E. J. McClyERNAND, 

"Assistant Adjutant-General" 



THE SANTIAGO CAMPAIGN. 

How our army was mobilized, and the military operations in Cuba 
and Porto Rico conducted. 

By 




A S the general commanding, on November 10, 1898, General Miles made his report to 
/ \ the War Department, of the campaigns in Cuba and Porto Rico. Prefatory to his 
/ \ descriptions of the active engagements of our forces on foreign soil, he represented 
the condition of our army at the outbreak of the war with Spain, and recapitulated 
the measures taken by Congress to prepare the country for offensive operations. 
Continuing his report, General Miles wrote : 

At the beginning of the war the problem was largely a naval one, and 
military operations had to be delayed, pending the success or failure of the 
naval forces. There were two obstacles to be avoided — one was placing an 



200 THE SANTIAGO CAMPAIGN. 

army on the Island of Cuba before our navy controlled the Cuban waters, 
and the other was putting an army on the island at a time when a large 
number of the men must die from the diseases that" have prevailed in that 
country, according to all statistics, for the last one hundred years. 

As soon as hostilities were commenced, expeditions were organized to 
aid the Cubans, and the attempts of Lieutenant Rowan and Lieutenant 
Whitney to ascertain existing conditions in Cuba and 
Organizing the Porto Rico proved very successful. 

Expeditions. Definite information having been received that Cer- 

vera's fleet had been enclosed in the harbor of Santiago de 
Cuba by the navy, orders were given to General Shafter, May 30, 1898, to 
place his troops on transports and go to the assistance of the navy in 
capturing that fleet and harbor. I desired to go with this expedition, and 
on June 5 sent a telegram to the Secretary of War, requesting that I be 
allowed to do so. The next day I received a message, asking the earliest 
moment I could have an expedition ready to go to Porto Rico large enough 
to take and hold the island without the force under General Shafter, to which 
I answered by a promise to have everything in readiness within ten days. 

It was found that many of the steamers were not suitable for transport 
service, they having been built entirely for freight steamers and not 
equipped for properly conveying troops and munitions of war. Notwith- 
standing which difficulties, the expedition sailed on June 14. 

On June 24 I submitted a plan of campaign, and two days later received 
an order to organize an expedition for operation against the enemy in Cuba 
and Porto Rico. This order directed that " the command 
Campaign Plan under Major-General Shafter, or such part thereof as can 
Submitted. be spared from the work now in hand, will join the fore- 
going expedition (General Brooke's), and you will com- 
mand the forces thus united in person. ' ' 

I was also directed to confer with the senior officer of the navy in those 
waters, with a view to harmonious action, and arrangements were also com- 
pleted with General Garcia for the co-operation of the Cuban with the* 
American troops. 

The expedition against Santiago, commanded by Major-General Shafter, 
landed at Baiquiri and Siboney June 22, 23 and 24. The subsequent move- 
ments of the expedition against the garrison of Santiago 
Shafter' s Report were described in full, including the reports from General 
From Santiago. Shafter, telling of the taking of El Caney, reporting the 
fact that he had been ill for four days and that he was 
urging Admiral Sampson to try to enter the bay. To this I sent a dispatch, 



THE SANTIAGO CAMPAIGN. 



20 1 



advising that I would be with hiin (General Shafter) in a week, with strong 
reinforcements. 

General Shafter, on July 4, sent word that if Admiral Sampson could 
force an entrance with all his fleet to the upper bay of Santiago he (Shafter) 
could take the place in a few hours, and asking for 15,000 more men, if the 
army was to capture the place by assault. It was then decided that I should 
go to Santiago at once, and I accordingly did so, reaching that point on 
July 1. The fleet under Admiral Sampson was then bombarding the Spanish 
position. 

At my request Admiral Sampson came over and a conference was held, 
the Admiral agreeing to my plans as to the co-operation 

r . a 1 j • r a Conference With 

01 the navv m the landing of troops. e 

• o a aampson. 

When this arrangement had been concluded, I went 
on shore and opened communication with General Shafter. I asked him if 
he had sufficient troops on the east side of the harbor of Santiago to main- 
tain his position, and he replied that he had. I then gave directions for 
General Garretson to disembark all the troops whenever he should receive 
orders. 

On the following morning (July 9th) I rode from Siboney to the head- 
quarters of General Shafter. After consulting with him, he sent a com- 
munication to General Toral, saying that the commanding general of the 
American army had arrived in his camp with reinforcements, and that we 
desired to meet him between the lines at any time agreeable to him. He 
replied that he would see us at 12 o'clock the following day. That evening 
I became apprised of the fact that negotiations regarding a surrender had 
been pending between the commanding general and the Spanish com- 
mander, but no definite conclusions had been reached. 

At the appointed time, accompanied by Major General Shafter and 
several others, I met the Spanish general, Toral, with two of his staff officers 
and an interpreter. After some conversation between General Toral and 
General Shafter, I informed General Toral distinctly that I had left Washing- 
ton six days before ; that it was then the determination of 
the government that this portion of the Spanish forces An U £™ tum t0 
must either be destroyed or captured ; that I was there with 
sufficient reinforcements to accomplish that object, and that if this was not 
the case any number of troops would be brought there as fast as steamers 
could bring them if it took 50,000 men. 

I told him that we offered him liberal terms, namely, to return his 
troops to Spain ; and I also pointed out the fact that this was the only way 
in which his forces could return, they being on an island 3,000 miles away 



202 



THE SANTIAGO CAMPAIGN. 



from their own country with no means of succor. He said that under the 
Spanish law he was not permitted to surrender as long as he had ammunition 
and food, and that he must maintain the honor of the Spanish arms. My 
reply was that he had already accomplished that ; that he must now surren- 
der or take the consequences, and that I would give him until daylight the 
next morning to decide. He appealed for longer time, saying it was impos- 
sible for him to communicate with his superiors, and upon his request I 
granted him until 12 o'clock noon of the following day. 

The situation I promptly communicated to Washington, and in reply a 
telegram was received leaving the matter entirely to my discretion— to accept 
surrender, order an assault, or withhold the same. This 

Discretionary Orders dispatch, however, ordered a consultation with Admiral 
to Miles. r ' ' 

Sampson, and urged a prompt settlement of the matter. 

Orders were at once issued to General Henry to be ready to land the men 
on the transports, and to Admiral Sampson to cover the debarkation with 
the fleet. A letter was received at this time from General Toral, asking for 
another meeting, which I promptly granted. 

On meeting General Toral, by appointment, at 12 o'clock that day, 
(July nth) under a flag of truce, at the same place as be- 

Toral Agreed to f ore j ie s t a ted that he was prepared to surrender his corn- 
Surrender. ' . 

mand, and that such action was approved by Captain- 
General Blanco, who had authorized him to appoint commissioners to agree 
upon the clauses of capitulation, which he was prepared to do, but that 
before final action it was proper that the government at Madrid should 
know and approve what was done. 

He said, however, that he was sure that the government would not fail 
to endorse his action. His manner was so sincere and the language of 
General Blanco so positive that I felt no hesitancy in accepting it in good 
faith, and stated that we would accept the surrender, under the condition 
that the Spanish troops should be repatriated by the United States. Gen- 
eral Toral stated that he would surrender all the troops in the department of 
Santiago de Cuba, many of them from seventy to 100 miles distant, and 
against whom not a shot had been fired ; yet the activity of the Cuban 
troops and their dispositions 'had been such as to render the Spanish posi- 
tions exceedingly perilous. The surrender being regarded as an accom- 
plished fact, I sent word to that effect to Washington and informed General 
Shafter that he could appoint the commissioners to complete arrangements 
for carrying out the terms of surrender. 

There was some delay in the final capitulation, owing to the non*agree- 
ment at first between the two commissions as to the disposition of the small 



THE SANTIAGO CAMPAIGN. 



203 



arms, but it was finally settled by leaving it to the decision of our govern- 
ment upon the recommendation of our commissioners that they should be 
sent to Spain with the troops. 

My chief desire, after being sure of the surrender of the garrison at 
Santiago, was to relieve our troops as speedily as possible by getting them 
away from the trenches and malarial grounds upon which they were 
encamped. 

Regarding the question of command, the following despatches are given 
in the report : 

Siboney, July 1 j, i8g8. 

General Miles, on Board "Vale ".• 

Letters and orders in reference to movement of camp received and will be carried out. 
None is more anxious than myself to get away from here. It seems, from your orders given 
me, that you regard my force as a part of your command. Nothing will give me greater pleas- 
ure than serving under you, General, and I shall comply with all your requests and directions, 
but I was told by the Secretary that you were not to supersede me in command here. I will 
furnish the information called for as to condition of command to Gilmore, Adjutant-General, 
Army Headquarters. 

Shafter, Major- General. 

Headquarters of the Army, 

Play a DEI, Este, July 78, i8g8. 

General Sh after : 

Telegram received. Have no desire and have carefully avoided any appearance of super- 
seding you. Your command is a part of the United States army, which I have the honor 
to command, having been duly assigned thereto, and directed by the President to go wherever 
I thought my presence may be required, and give such general directions as I thought best 
concerning military matters, and especially directed to go to Santiago for a specific purpose. 
You will also notice that the order of the Secretary of War of July 13 left the matter to my 
discretion. I should regret that any event would cause either yourself or any part of your 
command to cease to be a part of mine. 

Very truly yours, 

Nelson A. Miles, 
Major-General, Commanding United States Army. 

General Miles started on July 21 for Porto Rico, having obtained the 
necessary authority from Washington, and described the movements at that 
place, including the change in plans which took the army directly to 
Guanica instead of making a demonstration at Fort Fajardo, as originally 
intended, 

After the landing a short skirmish followed, in which, the Spanish 
troops were driven off and the American flag raised. The movements 
around Ponce, as well as the engagements at Guayama, Harmigueros and 
Coamo, were given in detail, the Sixteenth Pennsylvania being credited 
with an admirably executed flank movement at the last named place. The 
General says s 



HOW WE CAPTURED A BLOCKHOUSE. 



" During the nineteen days of active campaign on the island of Porto 
Rico a large portion of the island was captured by the United States forces 
and brought under our control. The Spaniards had been defeated or 
captured in the six different engagements which took place, and in every 
position they had occupied up to that time." 

General Miles closes the report with praise for the manner in which 
the army behaved and with a recommendation to Congress for an increase 
in the army. 



HOW WE CAPTURED THE BLOCKHOUSE ON SAN 

JUAN HILL, 

By 

{Lieutenant-Colonel a?id Brevet Brigadier-General.) 

TO enter at once upon a description of the most important events 
about Santiago in which my regiment participated between the 
first and seventeenth of July, 1898, I will state that on the morn- 
ing of the first my regiment was formed at the head of the Second 
Brigade by what is known as the El Paso sugar mill. When Capron's 
batteries opened, the Spaniards replied to us sharply with shrapnel, which 
killed and wounded several of the men of my regiment. We then marched 
towards the right, and crossed the ford before the balloon came down there 
and attracted the fire of the enemy, so at that point we lost no one. My 
orders had been to march forward until I should join General Lawton's right 
wing, but after going about three-quarters of a mile, I was halted and told to 
remain in reserve near the creek by a deep lane. 

The bullets dropped thick among us for the next hour while we lay 
there, and many of my men were killed or wounded. Among the former 
was Captain O'Neill, whose loss was a very heavy blow to the regiment, for 
he was a singularly gallant and efficient officer. Acting Lieutenant Haskell 
was also shot at this time. He showed the utmost courage and had been of 
great use during the fighting and marching. 

My men were very impatient while in an exposed position and unable 
to engage the enemy, and when at last orders were received to move forward 
in support of the regular cavalry, there was a cheer of relief and defiance 



HOW WE CAPTURED A BLOCKHOUSE. 



205 



that manifested the sincere relief and satisfaction that was felt. In executing- 
the orders given I advanced the regiment in column of companies, each 
company being deployed as skirmishers, as the exact location of the enemy 
was not yet known, except that we knew they were in force in the intrench- 
ments ahead. Accordingly we moved through several skirmish lines of the 
regiment ahead of us, as it seemed to me our only chance was in rushing the 
intrenchments in front instead of firing at them from a distance. 

Accordingly we charged the blockhouse and intrenchments on the hill 
to our right against a heavy fire. It was taken in good style, the men of my 
regiment thus being the first to capture any fortified posi- 
tion and to break through the Spanish lines. The guidons eio^houle* 
of G and E troop were first at this point, but some of the 
men of A and B troops, who were with me personally, got in ahead of them. 
At the last wire fence up this hill I was obliged to abandon my horse, and 
after that we went on foot. 

After capturing this hill we first of all directed a heavy fire upon the 
San Juan hill to our left, which was at the time being assailed by the regular 
infantry and cavalry, supported by Captain Parker's Gatling guns. By the 
time San Juan was taken, a large force had assembled on the hill we had 
previously captured, consisting not only of my own regiment, but of the 
Ninth and portions of other cavalry regiments. 

We then charged forward under a very heavy fire across the valley 
against the Spanish intrenchments on the hill in the rear of San Juan hill, 
which we also took, capturing several prisoners. We then formed in what- 
ever order we could and moved forward, driving the Spanish before us to 
the crest of the hills in front, which were immediately opposite the city of 
Santiago itself. Here I received orders to halt and hold the line on the hill's 
crest. I had at the time fragments of the Sixth Cavalry Regiment and an 
occasional infantryman under me — three or four hundred men all told. As 
I was the highest officer there I took command of all of them, and so contin- 
ued till next morning. 

The Spaniards attempted a counter attack that afternoon, but were easily 
driven back, and then, until after dark, we remained under a heavy fire 11 om 
their rifles and great guns, lying flat on our faces on a gentle slope just 
behind the crest. 

Captain Parker's Gatling battery was run up to the Throwing Away 

/ . -.11 Packs to Permit 

right of my regiment and did most excellent and gallant Frec Action, 
service. In order to charge, the men had of course been 
obliged to throw away their packs, and we had nothing to sleep in and 
nothing to eat. We were lucky enough, however, to find in the last block- 



2o6 



HOW WE CAPTURED A BLOCKHOUSE. 



house captured the Spanish dinners, still cooking, which we ate with relish. 
They consisted chiefly of rice and peas, with a big pot containing a stew of 
fresh meat, probably for the officers. We also distributed the captured 
Spanish blankets as far as they would go among our men, and gathered 
a good deal of Mauser' ammunition for use in the Colt rapid-fire guns, 
which were being brought up. That night we dug intrenchments across 
the Iront. 

At '.hree o'clock in the morning the Spaniards made another attack 
upon us, which was easily repelled, and at four they opened the day with a 
heavy rifle and shrapnel fire. All day long we remained under this, replying 
whenever we got the chance. In the evening, at about eight o'clock, the 
Spaniards fired three guns and then began a very heavy rifle attack, their 
skirmishers coining well forward. 

I got all my men down into the trenches, as did the other command 
near me, and we opened a heavy return fire. The Spanish advance was at 
once stopped, and after an hour their fire died away. This night we com- 
pleted most of our trenches and began to build bomb-proofs. The protection. 
Afforded our men was good, and the next morning I had but one man 
v/ounded from the rifle and shell fire until twelve o'clock, when the truce 
came. 

There were numerous Red Cross flags flying in various parts of the 
city, two of them so arranged that they directly covered batteries in our front 
and for some time were the cause of our not firing at them. The Spanish 
guerrillas were very active, especially in our rear, where they seemed by 
preference to attack the wounded men who were being carried on litters, 
the doctors and medical attendants with Red Cross flags on their arms, and 
the Duria! parties. 

1 organized a detail of sharpshooters and sent them out after the 
guerrillas, of whom they killed thirteen. Two of the men thus killed were 
shot several hours after the truce had been in operation, 
^ After '"hVrrucc 6 " because, * n s pite of this fact, they kept firing upon our 
men as they went to draw water. They were stationed in 
the trees, as the guerrillas were generally, and, owing to the density of the 
foliage and to the use of smokeless powder, it was an exceedingly diffi- 
cult matter to locate them. 

For the next seven days, until the tenth, we lay in our line while the 
truce continued. We had continually to work at additional bomb-proofs and 
at the trenches, and as we had no proper supply of food and utterly inad- 
equate medical facilities, the men suffered a good deal. The officers chipped 
together, purchased beans, tomatoes and sugar for the men, so that they 



HOW WE CAPTURED A BLOCKHOUSE. 



207 



might have some relief from the bacon and hard-tack. With a great deal of 
difficulty we got them coffee. 

As for the sick and wounded, they suffered so in the hospitals when 
sent to the rear, for lack of food and attention, that we found it best to keep 
them at the front and give them such care as our own doctors could, but 
thirteen of our wounded men continued to fight through the battle, notwith- 
standing their injuries. In spite of their wounds also those sent to the rear, 
many of whom were both sick and wounded, came up to rejoin us as soon 
as their condition allowed them to walk. 

On the tenth the truce was at an end and the bombardment reopened. 
As far as our lines were concerned, it was on the Spanish part very feeble. 
We suffered no losses, and speedily got the fire from their trenches in our 
front completely under control. On the eleventh we moved three-quarters 
of a, mile to the right, the truce again being on. Nothing happened there, 
except we continued to watch and do our best to get the men, especially the 
sick, properly fed. Having no transportation, and being able to secure very 
little through the regular channels, we used anything we could find — cap- 
tured Spanish cavalry horses, abandoned mules, some of which had been 
injured, but which our men took and cured; diminutive, skinny ponies 
purchased from the Cubans, etc. By these means and by the exertions of 
the officers we were able from time to time to get supplies of beans, sugar, 
tomatoes and even oatmeal, while from the Red Cross people we got an 
invaluable load of rice, cornmeal, etc. All of this was of the. utmost conse- 
quence, not only for the sick, but for those nominally w T ell, as the kick of 
proper food was telling terribly on the men. It was utterly impossible to 
get them clothes and shoes. Those they had were in many cases lit erally 
dropping to pieces. 

On the seventeenth the city surrendered. On the eighteenth we shifted 
our location to the best camp we had had, but the march thither under the 
noonday sun told very heavily on our men, weakened by underfeeding and 
overwork, and the next morning 123 cases were reported to the doctor, and 
but half of the 600 men with which I landed four weeks before, were fit for 
duty, and these not fit to do anything like the work they could do then. 

As we had but one wagon, the change necessitated leaving much of my 
stuff behind, with a night of discomfort, with scanty shelter and scanty food 
for the most of the officers and many of the men. Only the possession of 
the improvised pack train alluded to above, saved us from being worse. 



208 HOW CERVERA'S SQUADRON WAS ANNIHILATED. 



HOW CERVERA'S SQUADRON WAS ANNIHILATED, 



Story of the Bloody Sea Fight Before Santiago that Destroyed tht 
Pride of the Spanish Navy* 

By 

{Commander of the Squadron in the Fight.) 

IT is curious how little things often determine mighty results. After a 
patient and weary watch for many days under a tropic sun, surrounded 
by the most exhausting influences of climate, imperfectly fed, vigilant 
day and night, when the enemy moved it is a high tribute to my 
profession that it was simultaneously discovered by every ship that had been 
set to watch his pent up squadron. 

Curiously enough, after the army had invested Santiago and the battle 
of July i had taken place, I was personally impressed with the idea that a 
critical stage in the proceedings had been reached, and on Saturday night, 
which preceded the Sunday of July 3, now so famous in our history, I felt 
sure that the enemy contemplated an immediate movement of some kind. 
This impression proved to be correct, and the only thing that prevented the 
movement was that the Spaniards, who had occupied the hill westward of 
Santiago, in order to lose no time in retiring upon the main column, had 
abandoned their blockhouses, six in number, which were immediately seized 
by American troops and burned. At that very moment, at 9.30 o'clock at 
night, the Spanish squadron was ready to get under way ; but perceiving 
these blockhouses burning, they concluded that it was a 
Mistake signal to us, as there were six vessels in their squadron, 
and decided that they would defer their movement until 
morning. That was the critical moment in Admiral Cervera's life. It was 
a fatal decision. If he had attempted to come out at night he might have 
saved one vessel, but, making his exit in the daytime, that was utterly out 
of the question. 

In one minute and thirty seconds after Cervera's four cruisers and two 
torpedo-boat destroyers appeared we opened fire upon them. It was ui3 



HOW CERVKRA'S SQUADRON WAS ANNIHILATED. 



most beautiful sight I ever saw. These six vessels appeared at the harbor 
mouth and came out in column. That means in line ahead and at correct 
distance. When they emerged I was standing, on the bridge of the " Brook- 
lyn," and the first impression I received was that it was a Spanish bull fight, 
for they came out tail up and head down. Their appearance was the 
signal for an instant movement on our part. 

The admiral had been called to the eastward to have a consultation with 
General Shafter. Before leaving, the signal was made to disregard the orders 
of the commander-in-chief, which was a practical announcement to the 
squadron that the senior officer was in charge, and that, fortunately or un- 
fortunately, happened to be myself. The moment the enemy appeared the 
signal was hoisted for close action. It was followed by an immediate forward 
movement by the squadron. 

It was difficult to determine which of the three methods would be chosen 
by the Spanish Admiral. If he intended to make a fight, it was supposed 
that he would avail himself of the protection of the batteries east and west 
of the harbor. If he attempted to escape, it was supposed that he would 
take either the eastern or the western course. It was an anxious moment, 
and required quick decision and quicker action. 

Fortunately he chose to run, and changed his course to the westward. 
All our vessels had closed in and terrific cannonading had begun. Every- 
thing that had a gun seemed to be firing. The " Brooklyn " was unques- 
tionably the point of attack, because she was the fleetest ship. In the few 
moments that I had to think of the movements going on around me, I was 
reminded that the storm of projectiles about us resembled a millpond during 
a hailstorm. But on such occasions one has little time to think of himself. 
I was not personally aware that a shot had come within a hundred miles of 
~~s until a man was killed close to me, and a searchlight was knocked out 
near by. 

The question to be decided was whether we were to mask his fleet dur- 
ing a precious ten or fifteen minutes, or to turn out and unmask it, and the 
decision was made to turn out. The result was that in 
twenty-nine minutes four of the Spanish ships had been A Canno " Ball 

- Carries Awav 

annihilated. The " Vizcaya" and the " Colon " were left. a sailor's Head. 
These two put their helms to port and speeded to the west- 
ward, but the fleet " Brooklyn " was not to be left, and after a running fight 
of fifty-four minutes the " Vizcaya " was struck over one hundred times, was 
set on fire, lost 2 56 of her ship's company and was a total wreck. That was 
not, however, the exclusive work of the " Brooklyn," for she was assisted 
magnificently by the " Oregon " and the " Texas." 
14 



2io HOW CERVERA'S SQUADRON WAS ANNIHILATED. 



In the meantime the " Colon n had speeded up considerably, and got 
very nearly out of range. I signaled to the " Texas " to look out for the 
" Vizcaya," and started for th€ " Colon," feeling as Lord Nelson did at Tra~ 
falgar, that if one vessel got away the victory would be incomplete. I said 
to Captain Cook that we might go to dinner ; that we would have half to 
three-quarters of an hour before we would be within fighting range. We 
went to dinner, and were under fire for thirty minutes, but we didn't reply. 
We felt that we could reserve our supply for better use than target practice. 
After dinner, additional boilers having been lighted, speed having been 
increased, we were coming up with the " Colon " very rapidly. At one o'clock 
the " Oregon " and the " Brooklyn " had distanced all the vessels. 

The " Oregon " was astern of the " Brooklyn " about four hundred 
yards, and if the fight had continued an hour longer we would have left her 
entirely, because we were on the point of turning on two 
Deadly B projectiles more D °il ers > which would have given us a speed of nearly 
three knots more than hers. However, I signaled from 
the " Brooklyn " to the " Oregon " to let go one of her railroad trains. The 
projectile that followed this order landed just astern of the " Colon." The 
u Brooklyn " then fired an 8-inch gun, which struck about the same distance 
ahead of her. Clarke signaled to me where my shot had fallen, and I sig- 
naled back to him where his had gone. The second shot from the " Oregon " 
passed over and aft the " Colon," and the fourth shot, fired from the " Brook- 
lyn," struck her on the quarter, exploded in her cabin, and wrecked it com- 
pletely, when the enemy fired a gun to leeward and hauled down his colors 
and started for the beach. 

We then closed in, and Captain Cook was directed to go on board and 
accept the surrender on unconditional terms. In the meantime the flagship 
" New York " came up. After reporting to the commander-in-chief what 
had fallen under my observation, a report came that the " Callao," a Spanish 
ship, was on the coast. The commander-in-chief said he wanted me to go 
east with the " Oregon " and complete the job. We started out, feeling that 
there was nothing which carried the Spanish flag that day that dared come 
within the battery range of the "Brooklyn." 

The battle was unique. It was the first instance in history where a sea 
fight occurred between squadrons of nearly equal power in which one had com- 
pletely annihilated the other in an almost bloodless contest for the victor. I 
felt, as I surveyed the scene upon the bridge of the " Brooklyn," that it was 
an epoch-making day. 



THK GREATEST NAVAL FIGHT OF MODERN TIMES. 211 



THE GREATEST NAVAL FIGHT OF MODERN TIMES. 

By 




{Commander of the "Texas" During the Fight. ) 

AT 9.30 o'clock of Sunday morning, July 3, 1898, while the " Texas" 
was lying directly in front of Santiago harbor, Lieutenant M. L. 
^ Bristol saw smoke arising between Morro Castle and La Socapa. 
An instant later the nose of a ship poked out behind the Estrella 
battery. Clash went the electric gongs calling the ship's company to general 
quarters. Full speed ahead^ plunged the "Texas" toward the enemy, and 
up fluttered the vari-colored flags signaling " The enemy is trying to escape." 
The " Brooklyn," " Iowa " and " Oregon " responded immediately. All 
headed toward the harbor entrance, being then about two and a half miles 
away. 

There was much suppressed excitement aboard all the vessels as they 
sped in the direction of the enemy. The first of the Spanish squadron to 
come into view was a cruiser of the " Viz cay a " class, the 
" Almirante Oquendo." Closely following her came the Jpcns'Sic Fight 
" Cristobal Colon," which was easily distinguishable by 
the military masts between her two smokestacks. Then came the two other 
cruisers, "Vizcaya" and "Infanta Maria Teresa." 

Almost before the leading ship was clear of the shadow of Morro Castle 
the fight had begun. Admiral Cervera started it by a shell from the 
" Almirante Oquendo," to which he had transferred his flag. It struck none 
of the American vessels. In a twinkling the big guns of the "Texas", 
belched forth their thunder, which was followed immediately by a heavy fire 
from our other ships. The Spaniards turned to the westward under full 
steam, pouring a constant fire on our ships, and evidently hoping to get away 
by their superior speed. The " Brooklyn " directed her course parallel with 
that of the Spaniards, and, after getting in good range, began a running fight. 

The " Texas," still heading in shore, kept up a hot exchange of shots 
with the foremost ships, which gradually drew away to the westward under 



212 THE GREATEST NAVAL FIGHT OF MODERN TIMES. 



the shadow of the hills. The third of the Spanish vessels, the " Vizcaya " or 
" Infanta Maria Teresa, " was caught by the " Texas " in good fighting 

range, and it was she that engaged the chief attention of 
"the Th^clTof It" ^ rst ^ att ^ esn ^P commissioned in the American Navy — 

the old hoodoo, but now the old hero. The " Texas " 
pursued her adversary, which, however, being the swifter vessel, we were 
compelled to make the most of our opportunity while in range, which we 
did with excellent results, for our shells did great execution. My position 
was on the bridge until the concentrated fire of the " Oquendo" and " Viz- 
caya " upon the " Texas ' compelled me to seek shelter near the conning 
towe'r. This was a providential move, for directly after a shell from the 
" Oquendo " burst by the bridge which would have killed every one who 
might have been near it. For nearly an hour missies whistled about the 
" Texas," one of which struck the ash-hoist and exploded in the smoke- 
stack, injuring no one, however; another 12-inch Hontoria shell struck the 
port bow above the water line, making a hole large enough to admit a man's 
body, and others of smaller size hit various parts of the ship, doing consid- 
erable damage, but fortunately none of my men were injured. 

The din of the guns was so terrific that orders had to be yelled close to 
the messengers' heads, and at times the smoke was so thick that absolutely 
nothing could be seen. Once or twice the 12-inch guns in the turrets were 
swung across the ship and fired. The concussion shook the great vessel as 
though she had been struck by a great ball, and everything movable was 
splintered. The men near the guns were thrown flat on their faces. One 
of them, a seaman named Scram, was tumbled down a hatch into the for- 
ward handling room, his leg being broken by the fall. 

Meanwhile, the " Oregon " had come in on the run. She passed the 
" Texas " and chased after Commodore Schley, on the " Brooklyn," to head 

off the foremost of the Spanish ships. The " Iowa " also 
The "Oregon" turned her course westward, and kept up a hot fire on the 

and '* Iowa " to r r 

the Front. running enemy. 

At 10.10 o'clock the third of the Spanish cruisers, the 
one that had been exchanging compliments with the " Texas," was seen to 
be on fire and a mighty cheer went up from our ships. The Spaniard headed 
for the shore, and the " Texas " turned her attention to the one following. 
The " Brooklyn " and " Oregon," after a few parting shots, also left her 
contemptuously and made all steam after the foremost two of the Spanish 
ships, "Almirante Oquendo" and the " Cristobal Colon." 

Just then the two torpedo-boat destroyers, " Pluton " and " Furor," were 
discovered. They had come out after the cruisers without being seen, and 



THE GREATEST NAVAL FIGHT OF MODERN TIMES. 213 



were boldly heading west down the coast. " All small guns on the torpedo 

boats" was the order on the " Texas," and in an instant a hail of shot was 

pouring about them. A 6-pounder from the starboard battery of the 

" Texas," under Ensign Gise, struck the foremost torpedo boat fairly in the 

boiler. A rending sound followed above the roar of battle. A great spout 

of black smoke shot up from that destroyer and she was 

out of commission. The "Iowa," which was coming up Destroyerlf 

fast, threw a few complimentary shots at the second 

torpedo-boat destroyer and passed on. The little "Gloucester," formerly J. 

Pierpont Morgan's yacht " Corsair v " then sailed in and finished the- second 

boat. 

Gun for gun, and shot for shot, the running fight was kept up between 
the Spanish cruisers and the four American vessels. At 10.30 o'clock the 
" Infanta Maria Teresa " and " Vizcaya " were almost at the beach, and were 
evidently in distress. As the " Texas " was firing at them a white flag was 
run up on the one nearest her. Immediately I gave the order to cease firing 
and a moment later both the Spaniards were beached. Clouds of black smoke 
arose from each, and bright flashes of flame could be seen shining through 
the smoke. Boats were visible putting out from the cruisers to the shore. 
The " Iowa " waited to see that the two war ships were really out of the 
fight, and it did not take her long to determine that they would never do 
battle again. The " Iowa " herself had suffered some very hard knocks. 

The "Brooklyn," "Oregon," and "Texas" pushed ahead after the 
" Colon " and " Almirante Oquendo," which were now running the race of 
their lives along the coast. At 10.50 o'clock, when Admiral Cervera's flag- 
ship, the "Almirante Oquendo," suddenly headed in shore, she had the 
" Brooklvn " and " Oregon " abeam and the " Texas " astern. The " Brook- 
lyn" and " Oregon ,? pushed on after the "Cristobal Colon," which was 
making fine time and which looked as if she might escape, leaving the 
" Texas " to finish the " Almirante Oquendo." This work did not take long 
The Spanish ship was already burning. At n.05 o'clock down came a 
yellow and red flag at her stern. Just as the " Texas " got abeam of her she 
was shaken by a mighty explosion, and noting her destruction the " Texas " 
left the " Almirante Oquendo " to her fate to join in the chase of the 
"Cristobal Colon." 

That ship in desperation was ploughing the waters at a rate that caused 
the fast " Brooklyn " trouble to keep the pace, and the " Oregon " was show- 
ing a speed truly extraordinary for a battleship, while the " Texas " was 
making a new record since her trial trip. The " Brooklyn " might have 
proved a match for the " Cristobal Colon " in speed, but she was not supposed 



2i4 THE GREATEST NAVAL FIGHT OE MODERN TIMES. 



to be her match in strength. It would never do to allow even one of the 

Spanish ships to get away. Straight into the west the strongest chase of 

modern times took place, the " Brooklyn " heading the 
Greatest Chase of pursuers# g he stood well Qut frQm the shore j n Qrder t 
modern Times. x 

try to cut off the " Cristobal Colon " at a point jutting- out 
into the sea far ahead. The " Oregon " kept the middle course about a mile 
from the cruiser. The desperate Spaniard ran close along the shore, and 
now and then threw a shell of defiance. The old " Texas " kept well up in 
the chase under forced draught for over two hours. 

The swift Spaniard led the Americans a merry chase, but she had no 
chance. The " Brooklyn " gradually forged ahead, so that the escape of the 
" Cristobal Colon " was cut off at the point above mentioned. The " Oregon " 
was abeam of the " Colon " then, and the gallant cruiser abandoned all effort 
to escape, and at 1.15 o'clock headed for the shore, and five minutes later 

down came the Spanish flag. None of our ships at this 

Down Came the ^ me were w ithin a mile of her, but her escape was cut 
"Colon's" Flag. ' r 

off. The " Texas," " Oregon," and " Brooklyn " closed in 

on her and stopped their engines a few hundred yards away. 

Commodore Schley left the "Brooklyn" in a small boat and went 
aboard the " Cristobal Colon " and received the surrender. Meantime the 
" New York," with Admiral Sampson on board, and the " Vixen," were 
coming up on the run. Commodore Schley signaled to Admiral Sampson : 
" We have won a great victory, details will be communicated." 

The surrender in that little cove under the high hills was a general 
Fourth of July celebration, though a little premature. 

A Moment for Q ur c heered one another, the captains indulged in 

Patriotic Cheers. r ! • 

compliments through the megaphones, and the " Oregon " 

got out its band, and the strains of the " Star Spangled Banner" echoed over 
the lines of the Spaniards drawn up on the deck of the last of the Spanish 
fleet, and up over the lofty green-tipped hills of the Cuban mountains. 
Commodore Schley, coming alongside the "Texas" from the "Cristobal 
Colon" in his gig, called out to me, cheerily, "It was a nice fight, Jack, 
wasn't it?" The "Resolute" arrived soon after, and the work of trans- 
ferring the prisoners from the " Cristobal Colon " to her was then begun. 
Five hundred and thirty men were taken off ; eight were missing. 

It was hoped that the " Cristobal Colon " might be saved as a Fourth 
of July gift to our navy. She was beached bow on, on a sandy shore, and 
her stern was afloat, but she was not materially damaged by the shots that 
struck her. One 13-inch shell and one 8-inch had hit her, but it was 
found that the Spaniards had taken every measure to destroy her after they 



THE GREATEST NAVAL FIGHT OF MODERN TIMES 215 



themselves were safe. They had opened every sea-valve in the ship and 
had thrown the caps overboard. They had also opened all the ports and 
smashed the deadlights, and had even thrown the breech plugs of their 
guns overboard. 

The " Colon " floated off at seven o'clock in the evening and drifted 
500 yards down the beach to the westward, swinging bow out. The " New 
York " pushed her stern on to the beach, but the water was already up to 
her gun deck. At eleven o'clock she lurched and turned over on her star- 
board side, with her port guns pointing straight skyward. 

The first ship inspected was the " Almirante Oquendo." She was run 
ashore in a small bay, and well up on the beach, where she is likely to stay until 
time and the action of the elements complete the destruc- 
tion begun by the American guns. Her sides were scarred Tw l^f d ^ rc ^ ks 

. & of the Fleet. 

by many shots, and in her port bow there was a tremendous 
hole made by a 13-inch shell. On her port quarter, near the water line, 
there was a large rent. Her military masts were gone and her decks pre- 
sented a scene of wreck and confusion. 

As the vessel was approached a ghastly sight was presented. Dead 
Spaniards were seen floating all about in the water. They were stripped to 
the waist as they had stood to man their guns. The gunboat " Suwanee " 
steamed up, and Lieutenant Blue started ashore in her whaleboat to look 
after the prisoners, and especially the wounded, who were taken on board 
and their injuries carefully dressed bv our surgeons. 



216 



A PRAYER. 



A PRAYER. 



By S. Weir Mitcheix. 



And in thy majesty ride prosperously, because of truth and meekness and righteousness; 
and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. — Psalm xiv. 



JL \*- Be Thine the thanks, as Thine the force, 

On reeling deck or stricken field ; 
The thunder of the battle hour 
Is but the whisper of Thy power. 

By Thee was given the thought that bowed 

All hearts upon the victor deck 
When high above the battle's shroud 

The white flag fluttered o'er the wreck, 
And Thine the hand that checked the cheer 
In that wild hour of death and fear. 

O Lord of Love ! be Thine the grace 
To teach, amid the wrath of war, 

Sweet pity for a humble race, 

Some thought of those in lands afar, 

Where sad-eyed women vainly yearn 

For those who never shall return. 

Great Master of earth's mighty school 
Whose children are of every land, 

Inform with love our alien rule, 

And stay us with Thy warning hand 

If, tempted by imperial greed, 

We in Thy watchful eyes exceed, — 

That, in the days to come, O Lord ! 

Whei^ we ourselves have passed away, 
And all are gone who drew the sword, 

The children of our breed may say, 
These were our sires who, doubly great 
Could strike, yet spare the fallen State. 




LMIGHTY God ! eternal source 

Of every arm we dare to wield, 



FIRST AMERICAN NEWSPAPER IN SANTIAGO. 217 



FIRST AMERICAN NEWSPAPER IN SANTIAGO. 

AS the newsgatherer preceded our army in Cuba, so the newspublisher 
was first to inaugurate American enterprise on the reclaimed 
island. Santiago is a large city, with many capabilities, which 
correspondents were quick to discern; therefore, almost immedi- 
ately after its surrender, and before the plunder incident to military occupa- 
tion was brought into orderly arrangement of assumed ownership, a paper 
was founded in the city. Out of a chivalrous deference to the suddenly 
mixed population of Santiago, the paper, very properly christened The 
Times, was printed half-and-half, but the spirit of every column was dis- 
tinctly American of the far western type, as the following salutatory and 
extracts will show : 

"A newspaper should have a mission. Its mission should be to educate 
and enlighten. When it fails to do this, it is a failure. In the heart of 
Africa there are no newspapers. We have not heard whether there are 
newspapers in. Hayti or not. We started the Times of Cuba so that we 
might have an American paper, as well as the American flag, in our new pos- 
session. They were Spanish papers, some of them run by Cubans. Of these 
latter we have had the pleasure of reading various old copies. They tell us 
of the loyalty of the Cubans to Spain, and how they proposed to keep the 
Yankee out, fighting side by side under the red and yellow flag. . The editors 
are still here, and now they are singing verses and telling us how they 
helped whip the Spaniard. And they are full of complaints because we do 
not fire him out. 

"After seeing the pied form of a newspaper run up to the very day of 

our first bombardment, we had some misgivings about starting the Times. 

Some of the old editors offered to furnish us with their 

! wardrobes.' In our ignorance, we did not know what s,n 8 u,ar Sigmfi- 

. cance of a 

connection a 'wardrobe ' could have with a daily paper, but common Word. 

later, we learned that it was the term applied to the stand- 
ing newspaper items which had been kept in Spanish printing offices for the 
last century. They included death notices, marriage announcements, and 
even local items of news. When a man died, or was assassinated, or put in 
jail, the editor went to his 1 wardrobe,' selected trie appropriate item, 
changed the victim's name and then the matter was all ready for the press, 
without fear of being censored. Then this matter of being censored also 
frightened us. 



2 iS FIRST AMERICAN NEWSPAPER IN SANTIAGO. 



"We have been in jail so many times that imprisonment has lost allies 

novelty for us. But we were informed that if we wanted to publish any 

real hot stuff we might hire a couple of old beggars to sit in our office, and 

when the police came around to arrest the writer of the obnoxious article all 

we had to do was to point out one of the beggars. We would still have one 

beggar left for another article and if we wanted to write more articles we 

could get more beggars. They were cheap. Then we were told that we 

might expect to have a duel or two on our hands. This 

^ ° \ . idea rather pleased us. We never had been challenged but 
Was Threatened. r & 

once, and that was way back in the palmy days of our 
youth in Spain. After having accepted the challenge, our opponent said he 
had only challenged us to test our nerve, as he was looking for a companion 
to help fight another fellow. 

" After being confronted with so many circumstances attending Cuban 
journalism, we finally went ahead and got out our first paper. For three 
days we struggled with a reporter and an advertising manager, who smoked 
cigarettes in the morning and slept siestas in the afternoon. The one proved 
absolutely helpless to bring out a paper which had not provided itself with 
a ( wardrobe,' and the other was so slow in making out receipts and collect- 
ing bills that many of our customers died before we could get their promised 
subscriptions. We were almost in despair, but we finally found a man who 
wanted to work, and since then we have become daily, more interested in 
the Times and its mission as a newspaper. True, it has not been much of a 
paper, but we have had the satisfaction of saying about what we pleased, and 
we have not yet been arrested or shot at or otherwise maltreated, but on the 
contrary have received many expressions of attention and kindness, notwith- 
standing the fact that two or three narrow-minded people have ordered us to 
take their names off our subscription lists. Of course, there is no hope for 
these people, for when the Times has flourished and grown, and becomes a 
power in the island of Cuba, these simple, narrow-minded ones will still be 
antiquated, rubbing their eyes and longing for the good old days when King 
Alfonso was a child and everyone could do as he pleased, except run an in- 
dependent, modern newspaper." 

All newspapers occasionally have cause to apologize for errors which 
have crept into print, but very likely the following is unique : 

" It seems to be the object in life of some people to do as little work and 
get as much money as possible. This was the case yesterday when our 
printers run in upon us the article ' Are We Fools? ' which had appeared in 
our issue of the day previous. Our printers are all natives, which not only 
accounts for the many typographical errors, especially in our English section, 



FIRST AMERICAN NEWSPAPER IN SANTIAGO. 219 

but for the fact that we have to be constantly watching them. Some day a 
Yankee compositor will turn up in Santiago, and then we may hope to turn 
out a better paper." 

The riotous conduct of some of the " immunes " called for a long 
article on August 18. In the course of the editorial the Times said : 

" Now we are face to face with the fact that there is 
more disorder in the city of Santiago than ever before. A Spanish 
Men wearing the uniforms of United States soldiers enter Gathering News, 
cafes, order drinks, refuse to pay, smash bottles, assault 
Spanish soldiers and even force their way into private houses, insulting 
women, breaking furniture and committing all kinds of outrages. In our 
Spanish edition of yesterday we gave an account of one of these men enter- 
ing a private house the night before, and flourishing a machete at the tenant, 
who was ill in bed, received a wound which may result in his death. 
There is not an officer who can deny that the sick man was justified in 
shooting the soldier, but has the time come, we ask, when every peaceable 
citizen of Cuba must arm himself and be prepared to resist the disorderly 
conduct of these men who have come here in the guise of soldiers ? 
Yesterday, among other disgraceful occurrences, a negro went about town 
armed with a rifle, and bayonet fixed, followed by a drunken companion. 
They entered various shops and saloons on the pretense of carrying out some 
military order, and on being confronted by a Times reporter, the negro with 
the gun said he had orders to notify all storekeepers that they must not buy 
any more crackers," etc. 



220 



TRUE COURAGE. 



TRUE COURAGE. 



Brave Soldiers Who Have Confessed to a Dread of Warfare. 

ASK any man who ever followed General Sheridan in one of his dashing 
charges, and he will declare with all the emphasis at his command 
^ that no braver man than " Iyittle Phil " ever wore a sword or went 
into battle. One enthusiastic admirer speaks of him as the typical 
American fighter of the generation, and all laud the daring which won him 
such rapid promotion and such signal victories. 

Long following the war Sheridan sat beside the late Charles A. Dana at 
an evening dinner party. " General," said Mr. Dana with his wonted direct- 
ness, " between ourselves, were you ever afraid in battle ?" 

" My dear fellow," came the immediate reply, " I have never seen the 
beginning of a battle without fear, and had I followed my first impulse I 
would have run away every time. The men who say they have never known 
fear are liars and humbugs !" 

General Grant, of whom a grizzled old veteran said- that he hadn't a 
nerve in his body or a cowardly drop of blood, used almost precisely the same 
language as did Sheridan, and always distrusted a man who loved to vaunt 
his own fearlessness. Hancock, with his magnificent figure, his martial mien, 
and his gallant conduct, was the idol of his men, who called him " the 
superb," yet he said in his own impressive way that there were times imme- 
diately preceding a general engagement that it was with the most determined 
exercise of will power that he overcame his sense of apprehension. 

" Stonewall " Jackson, whose title every soldier that ever fought with 
him or against him knows to be a well-earned one, said that he depended 
upon moral rather than physical courage, and that on the 

Fear, at Times, ^ g t kat he fought with the most intrepidity it was not 
Possesses the Most . i . , . ., , . « 

Courageous. ^he excess °* his own spirit that moved him so much as 

the desire to inspire his men by an example of courage. 

Sherman had the heartiest contempt for soldiers who declared that they 

feared " nothing or nobody," and it was the opinion of this same general 

who made the famous march to the sea, that they were responsible for much 

of the incompetency, confusion, and disgrace in 1861. 

Farragut was our greatest naval hero of the war, and his exploit while 

lashed to the rigging of the " Hartford " in Mobile Bay has given him a 



THE STORY OF A RED CROSS NURSE. 



2*1 



place among the immortals of history, yet he was a soldier upon principle. 
He never did anything for dramatic effect. He was mild-mannered and 
good-tempered, and did his bravest deeds from a sense of duty rather than 
animal courage. When he came down from his perilous place aloft on the 
" Hartford," where he had won the fame that will live forever, he wept as a 
woman would over the poor fellows who had been killed and were laid out 
on the deck. 

Jefferson, who was physically timid, thought that Washington was born 
without a sense of fear, but those who are closer readers of character attribute 
the bravery of the great leader to that more exalted courage which can over- 
come fear. It is conceded on all sides that " Mad Anthony " Wayne was 
something of a dare-devil, yet he was much the same stamp of man as 
Sheridan, and Sheridan knew what fear was. The latter, with Sherman in 
council, once estimated that one soldier out of four, in the volunteer service, 
would prove a coward and fail to meet the demand made upon him when 
the greatest nerve and persistency were required. They hunted cover when 
things became hot. They would fall to the ground, pretending to be sick, 
wounded or exhausted. 

One thing clearly established in the late war was that the best soldiers 
did not come from the tough city quarters, where brute courage is supposed 
to be at its best, but from the ranks of business, professional and industrial 
life, merchants, clerks, lawyers, artisans, farmers' sons, college students, and 
society men. 



THE STORY OF A RED CROSS NURSE. 

By J. Helen Bull. 

UPON my arrival at Santiago, July 22, the thing that impressed 
me most was the crowd collected in front of each of the many 
warehouses stationed along the street which faces the harbor, 
other groups hurrying eagerly toward the same goal — the name of 
Miss Clara Barton on every lip. I found these warehouses were the places 
for distribution of supplies, given out under the direction of Miss 
Barton for the National Red Cross Relief Society, and the confusion conse- 
quent upon the arrival of troops and transports as may be imagined was 
very great. Almost immediately upon my arrival, I listened to the awful 
story of banishment from the city of all non-combatants which was prelimi- 
nary, as a humane measure, to the bombardment that our forces had prepared 
to begin. 



THE STORY OF A RED CROSS NURSE, 



When the order came from General Shafter that this must be accom- 
plished in a few hours, the English Consul informed me that he and other 
foreign consuls, went to the camp of General Miles and begged for more 
time, which was granted. There were no means of transport by which the 
weak and old could be conveyed with any degree of decency, and the 
horrors of this terrible march can never be*told in language adequate for the 
situation. Delicate women, tender children and grandmothers, bred in the 
ease and luxury peculiar to this luxury-loving nation, were herded together 
like cattle and passed out of their homes without being able to make any 
suitable preparation. Down the dusty road swept the sad cavalcade, looking 
the agonized farewells they could not speak, and plodded wearily on to 
Caney. Arriving there, a few palm huts were their only shelter. 

There were so many to be provided for, that at night they could only 
be laid on the ground with their feet to the centre like the spokes of a 
wheel, and thus crowded closely together, mothers could 
Miss Barton s turn even to minister to their crying children. Here 

Good Work. . 

came in the glorious work of Miss Barton and her staff. 

Of their able and efficient services in imparting speedy relief to these suffer- 
ers at Caney enough cannot be said. Here, too, came in the unselfish sacri- 
fices of our noble soldiers, who gave to these poor exiles of their own half 
rations and scanty clothing after being in the trenches for days without food 
or water. This makes a record of individual generosity unparalleled in any 
war. This was repeated to me again and again by Spanish soldiers, and 
many other stories of the kindness and magnanimity of our men made my 
cheek flush with pride and patriotic fervor as I listened. 

Many isolated cases of self-sacrifice kept coming to the surface, and 
many more will never be known till the Recording Angel makes them 
known at the last great summing up of heroic deeds. Among the former is 
one which I wish to put on record here. Mr. Bangs, one of Miss Barton's 
staff, was as truly a soldier as though he had met his death on the field 
of battle. When I met him he had passed through the horrors of Siboney 
and Caney, and the stamp of death was on his face. 

General Toral has been said to have ordered the looting of Santiago 
before its evacuation, but this, I wish in justice to state, is a gross misrepre- 
sentation. The rabble who did the looting was the class usually following 
in the wake of any army, made up of almost every nationality under the sun. 
They do their work under no orders, but are a law unto themselves, like the 
carrion birds that hover over the battlefield. 

Among our troops there was a natural desire for trophies and memen- 
toes of the war in which they had shared. I saw our young soldiers buying 



THE STORY OF A RED CROSvS NURSE. 



223 



Up jeweled rosaries, and known of officers buying decorations taken from 
the dead, all of which was perfectly legitimate. 

I found the military hospitals in Santiago very poorly equipped. There 
were no cots and a very meagre supply of canned fruits, so necessary for conva- 
lescents and very few medicines could be found. Miss 
Barton made up for the deficiency as well as she could. Hospitals Poorly 

. . Equipped. 

One hospital was established in a theatre, another in 
a large building next door. The patients here were on the floor, with 
blankets over them. Another, in which I acted as nurse, was in the Nautical 
Club, which is built out into the bay, and therefore comparatively cool and 
comfortable. The first day I was in this hospital we bathed every patient 
and changed the clothing, Miss Barton supplying all needed changes. She 
supplied the deficiency here as elsewhere, being called upon generally for 
medical supplies. This is no reflection on our Government, as, up to the 
time of capitulation, everything had to be landed at Siboney by lighters, 
and, as I understand, that eleven had been lost at sea, and the sea ran so 
that it was almost impossible to supply maintenance for our army. Where 
the supplies could be landed at Santiago the needs of the army were so 
great, it would have required a miracle almost equal to the ancient one of 
the loaves and fishes to have supplied all. 

The natives have a lot of domestic remedies, and the secrets of their 
most peculiar pharmacopoeia are thus far unknown to us. They have a 
large green bean that has four black seeds. This plant is first cousin to that 
one yielding croton oil. The native considers half a bean a dose, but in 
certain cases they take a whole bean, with tremendous results. I cannot 
describe these further than to say that unless the medicine all but ties them 
up in a double knot they are not satisfied and consider they are not well 
treated. Hence, our physicians find it difficult to treat them outside of their 
own remedies. 

Prior to the surrender, the streets were unfit to walk in, and when the 
surrounding country had emptied itself of its sickly, emaciated inhabitants, 
and they were concentrated in the city proper, in order that they might be 
fed — in addition to the remaining Spanish army and General Shafter's 
troops — the chances for disease were greatly multiplied. 

The streets and passageways, reeking with filthy odors, and uncleanliness 
on every hand, furnish ample material for fevers and diseases growing out 
of such conditions. Some sanitary measures should at once be established 
to obviate the pestilential conditions. 



v 



224 



HOSPITAL CONDITIONS AT PONCE. 



HOSPITAL CONDITIONS AT PONCE. 

WHEN the fever came to Ponce and the surrounding territory, the 
hospital service proved entirely inadequate to cope with the 
ever increasing number of cases. The administration seemed 
unable to keep up with the demand, and the conditions for some 
days were of the most miserable description. What hospitals there were 
quickly became overcrowded, and then men, burning with fever, were 
allowed to lie out in the grass, having only one woolen blanket for a cover- 
ing. The damp grass, saturated with the heavy rains of the tropical wet 
season, was the most impossible place for the sick. The death-rate slowly 
rose, but the heads of the medical department kept claiming that everything 
was all right and that the sickness did not amount to very much. Medical 
supplies were either very scarce or the conduct of the hospitals very poor, 
because I know of cases where no medicine or food was given for over 
twenty-four hours at a stretch. The natural robustness of the American 
soldier, however, helped the majority to survive in spite of the lack of care. 

And yet the survival was but a sorry one. Shattered by the ravages of 
the fever, weak in body and mind from the lack of nourishment and proper 
attention, lying in a climate that proved to have absolutely no recuperative 
properties for unacclimated people, these men dropped day after day. Those 
who in the beginning had been great, splendid specimens of the best of our 
American youth, who had been good to look upon in the fulness of their 
health and robustness, were now but pitiable wrecks, scarcely able to raise 
trembling hands to their wan faces. The one cry, weak and wailing as it 
came to me day after day, was to send them home. Finally came the good 
news that a ship was to carry convalescents back to the States. At once 
came a wonderful brightening of faces, a stiffening up of limp forms, as the 
poor devils crawled about the hospital cantonments. 

The great .day arrived when the convalescents were to be taken away, 
and then came the announcement that only those who could walk and who 
were well on the road to recovery could go aboard ship. 
The Last Ray of The r fellows w h om t h e fever had left so weak that 

Hope Expires. r 

they could not raise their emaciated frames from the cots, 

where they were so fortunate as to occupy such an article, rolled over and 
buried their faces in their arms, heart-broken. Hope had fled and fever came 
back. The others who were able to walk, and who were selected to be sent 
home, tried to tread with old-time buoyant step, but whick ended in a weak 



YKIXOW FEVBR AMONG THE AMERICAN SOLDIERS. 225 

shamble. Down to the beach they were carted in ambulances, army wagons 
and any kind of conveyances that could be gathered. 

Large lighters rose and fell in the gentle surf, willing hands helped the 
poor fellows scramble aboard, and puffy little steam launches towed them 
out to the transports. And then came another setback. Many of the 
invalids had exhausted their poor little strength in the flitting from hospital 
to shore, and when alongside the big ship, which breathed of fresh ocean 
breezes and of home, they were lying upon the bottom of the boats unable 
to rise. A lynx-eyed surgeon scanned every one, and then gave forth the 
order that those unable to walk on board must go back, as the transports 
were only for convalescents, who could care for themselves, there being no 
hospital facilities on board for sick men. No more pitiful sight could be 
imagined when those poor devils were turned away from what, to them, 
meant, life. Dejection of the deepest type followed. The puffy little launches 
towed them back to the shore, and the three volleys in the graveyards 
became more frequent. 



YELLOW FEVER AMONG THE AMERICAN SOLDIERS 

IN CUBA. 

By Rev. Dr. Henry C. McCook. 

IS IT grip?" 
" No, senor," said the Cuban doctor, shrugging his shoulders. 
Then he smiled and looked thoughtful, and shook his head. " Eet iss 
calenturua. Bet iss malarial fever. Bet iss — " 

" It's the devil's own disease !" broke in the major, with an emphasis that 
showed how personal and profound was the experience from which he spoke. 
By whatever name doctors call it, when folk have it they are apt to adopt 
the major's diagnosis with various descriptive addenda, which it would be 
impolite to put into print. As to details, take this invoice : 

Item — A headache, getting harder and heavier, until the head longs for a 
pillow on the block of " the maiden " in the grass market of Edinburgh, or 
in the basket of a Parisian guillotine. Do you know what a " sluting " 
headache is ? That's it ! 

Item — A fever, growing hot, hotter, hottest ! Does the water on your 
brow relieve it ? Yes, until it begins to boil ! 

Item — Sore bones, sorer bones, break bones ! Yon Tennessee hospital 
steward says he "reckons At is a kyind of break-bone fever, anyhow*" 
15 



226 YELLOW FEVER AMONG THE AMERICAN SOLDIERS. 



And he is not now vending a fairy story, like the one he signed when he 
declared himself a yellow fever immune in order to be sent to Santiago. 

" Well, ye-es," he confessed, # " I did prevairycate, I allow. But anything 
was kyind of axcusable to git out of Camp Alger !" 

Item — Nausea. And more nausea. And — O — oh ! " Seems kyndeh like 
old times on the ' Resolute ' off Cape Hatteras," remarks the hospital 
steward. But he speaks from his own experience, for the present nauseated 
victim is not subject to sea sickness. 

Item — Chills ; growing chillier ; ch-ch-chatter ; chat-chat-ter-rr-rr-oh! Did 
the head burst? No! If it only would, and be done with it ! " Pull up 
the blanket, steward, I'm freezing. No ! throw it off. I'm burning up. My 
back ! my bones ! my head !" 

Item — Weak, weaker, weakest of all weak things in this wide world. 
How can a strong man wilt into this utter worthlessness within three days ? 
Calentura, hey? No wonder Shafter's victorious army withered before it, 
and had to be returned home to recuperate. Did you ever doubt the story 
of the Assyrian army that came down upon ancient Sennacherib " like a 
wolf on the fold, and his cohorts were gleaming with purple and gold," but 
was blighted in one night? If the angels of the Lord then and there 
breathed forth calentura, the deed would have been done. I shall persist in 
calling it grip, a horrible Cuban species. At all events, it is mean enough 
a monster of morbidity to bear that generic name. From calentura, grip 
and yellow fever, " Good Lord deliver us !" 

Next to the Cathedral, the most prominent building in Santiago is the. 
hospital. It occupies the crest of the hill on which the city stands, and 
from the harbor its red cross flag seems to wave in the 
of buffering m idst °f a tropical garden. Let us climb the height from 
the little square (placeta) and Church of Dolores. Take 
this winding path and bear away through masses of shrubbery, festooned 
with spider webs, to this long steep stairway, the southern approach. Stand 
now at the landing and view the scene. You will have little heart for 
it when you come out. Over the mass of wrinkled roof-tops of red tiles, 
that seem almost to touch one another, so narrow are the streets, you see 
the bay, or that part which forms the harbor. The remainder is hidden by 
the fold in the mountains. Ships lie at anchor, among them the " Mexico," 
with General Shafter on board en route for home in the wake of his trium- 
phant army. Only the sick and convalescent remnants of the army of 
Santiago now remain, they and the Silent Battalion of the Fallen. 

The little tug " Esmeralda " snorts at the dock waiting to take off Col- 
onel McClernand, Major Groesback, the able judge advocate and others of tile 



YELLOW FEVER AMONG THE AMERICAN .SOLDIERS. 2-7 



staff who go home with their chief. Further out lies the Spanish ship that 

is to transport the next load of the capitulated Spanish army. Poor fellows ! 

Thirteen of them died to-day on their way to the vessel — -died with their 

faces toward home. 

I have left my readers standing in the corridor of the Civil Hospital. 

Pardon for the disrespect. But no harm is done. You have but to look 

around, for the corridor is full of cots, the overflow of the 

wards. I will not take you further. Those wards are _ ,n thc 

J Fever Hospital. 

crowded ; every bed taken and fifty men are lying there 

and dying there on the bare floor. To-day we got mattresses and pillows. 
To-morrow we shall have cots. Shall we ? We have hoped so every day 
for a week. Manana — to-morrow ! How soon the all-consuming torridity 
of this tropical sun burns out even American energy and promptitude. It 
is the vice of all natives ; it is the sorrow of the suffering ; it is doom to the 
sick — manana ! 

Let me close this story of this new civic ward of the American nation 
with an incident that greatly affected me. On my first visit, while going into 
the place with the Sisters of Charity who had come from America to nurse 
the sick, we had just passed out of one of the male wards when we heard 
some one calling behind us : " Americano, Americano ! " One of the Cuban 
nurses stood at the ward door waving his hands frantically, pointing back- 
ward and shouting Spanish. " There is an American man sick in here," 
explained Mr. Astwood, our interpreter. We turned back. 

A handsome mulatto lad lay upon a cot with both arms A Fc jy e , r . PatienVs 

J r Delirium. 

outstretched toward us, his face radiant for the moment 

amidst his pains at the welcome greeting of our English tongue. He clasped 
my hands convulsively. 

" What is the matter ? " 

Nothing but " yaller janders." 

He would be all right if his head did not hurt so. His name was 
Charles Franklin, of Logan, Colorado, and he was " the boy "of some 
officer in the Seventh United States Regulars. His mind began to wander. 
The pain became so severe that he rolled upon his cot, then sat up upon it. 

" Let us pray ! ,5 I kneeled at his bedside, and, holding his hand, com- 
mended him, body and soul, to God. The soothing influence of the devotions 
stilled the distracted nerves. He was quiet while I prayed. It was a strik- 
ing scene. The good Sisters joined in the prayer, reverently bowing, the 
tall form of Mr. Astwood bending in their midst. The hospital nurses 
looked on with subdued mien. The sick from their surrounding cots turned 
to gaze at us, their wan, pallid faces lit up by a moment's curiosity. 



2_>8 BRAVEST DEEDS PERFORMED BY AMERICAN SAILORS. 



I left the lad with the apostolic benediction on his brow and turned 
away. 

u It is our only case of yellow fever," said the Spanish Sister Superior. 
M I^e will surely die ; he is in the last stage." 
" Did you say yellow fever," I asked. 

" Yes," just a little startled, perhaps, said our American Sister Mary, " I 
could tell it by the eyes." 

" And by the odor ! " added Sister Apollonia. 

" And my good doctor," said Sister Regis, running up to me, " you have 
been exposed to the infection ! You held his hands. You took his breath. 
But do not fear. It was an act of charity and our Heavenly Father will 
surely care for you." 

Nevertheless, the kind lady whipped out of some mysterious receptacle 
about her dress, a bottle of some disinfectant stuff and bidding me hold out 
my hands filled the palms and made me lave the skin. Like Oliver Cromwell 
she " trusted in God, but kept her remedies ready." Good theology and 
good practice. 

Poor lad ! He was isolated at once and three doctors " sat " upon him 
when he died. Two said yellow fever, one said malignant malarial. All 
the same, his campaign in Cuba is ended, and, let us hope, his spirit rests in 
peace. 



THE BRAVEST DEEDS PERFORMED BY AMERICAN 

SAILORS. 

By J. W. Bukl. 

THE intrepid daring of Assistant Naval Constructor Hobson, in blow- 
ing up the " Merrimac " at the mouth of Santiago harbor, June 3, 
1898, has given him imperishable fame, as he deserves, but 
remarkable and astoundingly courageous as was that feat, it does 
not stand alone as the greatest example of American bravery, but is rather 
one of many equally heroic exploits performed by our gallant sailors, three 
of which I take satisfaction in briefly narrating. 

It is an almost unbelievable statement, though strictly true, that about 
the beginning of 1800 the United States paid tribute to the Dey of Algiers. 
This Moorish potentate was powerful enough to exact a license from Ameri- 
can vessels entering the Mediterranean Sea, and refusal was punished by 



BRAVEST DEEDS PERFORMED BY AMERICAN SAILORS. 229 



capture of our ships and holding the crews in slavery until ransomed by our 
government. The humiliation involved in submission to such infamous 
imposition of a barbarous power, galled the American people, but lack of 
war-ships to protect our commercial vessels compelled the United States to 
endure these piratical levies for several years. In 1801, however, we 
declared war against the Dey of Tripoli, and in that and the following year 
there were despatched to Mediterranean waters the frigates " President," 
"Philadelphia," "Essex," "Chesapeake," "Constitution," "New York," 
"John Adams " and the " Enterprise." This fleet was first placed in com- 
mand of Commodore Richard V. Morris, who, after winning a small victory, 
remained so long inactive that he was dismissed from the service in 1803. 
Thereafter the fleet was under the direction of Commodore Preble. The 
war vessels sent by our government to the Barbary coast did not constitute 
a fleet, because they acted independently, performing the duty of cruisers, 
watching the enemy's ships, guarding such American vessels as entered the 
sea, and fighting the pirates whenever found. While thus engaged the 
" Philadelphia " captured a Moorish cruiser which was added to our protec- 
tive force ; but soon after, while chasing another pirate ship, the " Phila- 
delphia " run hard aground upon a reef in the harbor of Tripoli, and fell an 
easy prey to the Moors, who made slaves of Captain Bainbridge and all his 
crew. 

The " Philadelphia " was one of the staunchest and best armed ships of 
the American navy, and as the Moors succeeded in floating her at high tide, 
without damage, her loss seriously crippled our Mediter- 
ranean fleet and correspondingly strengthening that of the Capture of the 

M1 r & "Philadelphia" 
enemy. Her recapture appeared impossible, for while she by pj ra t es . 

might have been beaten in an engagement with the 
" Chesapeake " or the " Constitution," the Moors shrewdly kept her in the 
harbor to increase the defence of Tripoli, an attack upon which city the 
American's had for some time contemplated. 

There was among the brave men who fought the pirates from the deck 
of the " Chesapeake," a young lieutenant named Stephen Decatur, cool, 

courageous and resourceful, ready to engage in any peril- ' 

j i. 1 • 1 «i 1 r -1 , • Decatur Surprises 

ous undertaking, who conceived a plan for destrovmg the __ 

53 ' r . & t h e Moors. 

" Philadelphia," which for its desperate daring and man- 
ner of execution has few equals in the world's naval history. His purpose 
having been approved, Decatur, with seventy-four volunteers, took charge 
of the light frigate " Intrepid," in which they bore down upon the " Phila- 
delphia" at her anchorage before the guns of the Tripoli fortifications. 
Their adventure was well timed, when a starless night rendered them less 



2 3 o BRAVEST DEEDS PERFORMED BY AMERICAN SAILORS. 



liable to discovery and gave a friendly cover to their daring expedient. As 
they moved under a light breeze towards the doomed vessel, they were 
hailed by the Moors, but gave a satisfactory reply, that their ship was a 
merchantman which had lost her anchor and was helplessly adrift. By this 
stratagem the " Intrepid " was enabled to reach the frigate, and no sooner 
had the vessels been thus brought together than Decatur and his equally 
brave comrades leaped onto the " Philadelphia " and with cutlasses hewed 
down the terrified and unprepared Moors ; then applying the torch, they set 
fire to the frigate in several places so as to insure her certain destruction, after 
which the Americans made good their escape before the Tripolitans on 
shore became aware of the cause of the " Philadelphia's " burning. 

This heroic act of Decatur's proved to be only the prelude of a more 
thrilling adventure, of which he was soon to be the hero. Soon after the 

destruction of the "Philadelphia," Commodore- Preble 
A Struggle 63 * 11 ma( ^ e a vigorous attack upon Tripoli, using his frigates, 

mortar-boats, and schooners with excellent effect. In the 
harbor at the time were three Moorish gunboats, one of which was compelled 
to strike her colors to Lieu tenant James Decatur, a younger brother of 
Stephen, but as the lieutenant boarded his prize the treacherous captain shot 
him dead, and as the two boats parted the Moor made his escape. Stephen 
Decatur was soon apprised of the fate of his brother and immediately entered 
upon a chase after the fleeing gunboat, which in a few hours he overhauled and 
resolutely boarded. The Moorish captain was readily distinguishable by his 
gaudy uniform and by his herculean stature, but disparity of size failed to 
deter Decatur in personally avenging the treacherous death of his brother. 
While others of his crew fought hand to hand with the Moorish sailors, 
Decatur engaged the captain, one with a pike, the other with a cutlass. 
The Moor was of superior strength, but Decatur had the advantage in dex- 
terity, which served him in excellent stead. Every lunge of the pike was 
deftly parried by Decatur's cutlass, until at length both weapons became 
useless, and the two men grappled for a death struggle, for death alone could 
terminate the fight. After wrestling for a while the greater strength of the 
Moor prevailed and Decatur was violently thrown upon the vessel's deck, 
with his savage enemy on top, who felt sure of victory with the advantage 
now all his own. 

The Moorish captain, with his left arm opposing his struggling adver- 
sary, tried to draw his dagger from the sash-belt he wore, but while so 
attempting Decatur contrived to reach his pistol, which he thrust against the 
back of his enemy and discharged a ball into his heart. But no sooner had 
Decatur risen, blood-covered, from his fight with the captain, when he was 



BRAVEST DEEDS PERFORMED BY AMERICAN SAILORS. 231 



beset by another Moor, who aimed a savage blow, wdrich would have certainly 
killed Decatur had not Reuben James, a sailor, interposed his own arm and 
head, which received the full force of the stroke. James received a ghastly 
wound but ultimately recovered and lived nearly forty years afterward. 

Heroic Exploit of Captain Somers. 

If it were possible to surpass the dashing and hazardous feats performed 
by Decatur, the honor of such daring deeds belongs to Captain Richard 
Somers, Lieutenant Henry Wadsworth, and the eleven danger-defying sailors 
who accompanied them on the perilous enterprise which I am about to describe. 

Tripoli had several times been bombarded, but so small had the damage 
been that the Moors remained defiant and their power was little curtailed. 
A scheme was at length proposed to destroy the Moorish harbor-squadron 
by a desperate strategy, which Captain Somers and his companions volun- 
teered to execute, though to do so meant certain death to them. In pursuance 
of the plans adopted, the " Intrepid " was fitted out as a bomb-vessel, or 
improvised torpedo-boat. Under her decks were stored one hundred barrels 
of powder, about which were disposed shells, scraps of iron and solid shot, 
the whole . being so connected with fuses that it might be exploded at any 
moment desired. The original intention of this brave crew, no doubt, was 
to apply a slow match when the vessel should be brought to a position where 
the energy of the explosion would be most disastrous to the enemy's boats, 
and then row away, but this was seen to be impracticable and the men went 
fearlessly to their certain fate. 

When this desperate undertaking was put into effect (May 25, 1804,) the 
night was perfectly clear, save for a mist that hung on the water, and for 
what followed we are indebted to Admiral Stewart, a spec- 
tator of the holocaust, who thus reported the incident : Forward, to Death ! 

" We watched the ' Intrepid ' as she slowly disappeared 
in the gloom. I held my night-glass levelled until the vessel was lost to 
sight. Then followed the anxious minutes of suspense. I was still look- 
ing; when I saw a point of light move rapidly to one side, slightly rising 
and falling, as it would do if a man held a lantern in his hand while run- 
ning. Then the light dropped from sight, as if the one carrying it had 
leaped down a hatchway. I instinctively knew what it meant. Somers had 
been discovered and was about to blow up the ' Intrepid.' Suddenly a vast 
column of fire shot upward, and the sea rocked. The air was filled with 
flaming bombs, sails, missiles and fragments which continued splashing into 
the water, as it seemed to me, for several minutes, when all became dark 



^2 B&AVEST DEEDS' PERFORMED BY AMERICAN SAILORS. 



and siletit &s before. It can never be known whether the explosion was 
inte.iiioual w not, but I have no doubt Somers deliberately blew up the vessel 
when he fcv&ud it was a choice between that and being taken prisoner* 
Not a single o.ae of the thirteen heroes lived to tell the story." 

• 

Brave Act of Lieutenant Cushing. 

That American ingenuity, no more than American bravery, is confined 
to no section, was abundantly demonstrated during the Civil War. While 
the North built monitors, the South was equally inventive in the construc- 
tion of mighty floating fortresses, the most famous of which was the ram 
" Albemarle," that wrought a terrific slaughter among our shipping, defiant 
and victorious, until her career was arrested by the heroic exploit of Lieu- 
tenant William B, Cushing of the U. S. N., which made his name as 
imperishable as that of Hobson, Decatur and Somers. 

The "Albemarle" was built under the greatest possible difficulties, 
such as proved the extraordinary resourcefulness and skill of her designers. 
Work of construction was done at Edward's Ferry, a point on the Roanoke 
a few miles above Plymouth, North Carolina, where there was small likeli- 
hood of interruption from the Union forces, but the place was likewise 
almost inaccessible for heavy material. The armor used was railroad iron, 
to secure which a hundred miles of country had to be scoured, the material 
having to be hau?^d by ox and mule teams over almost virgin territory, while 
the building plant was a common blacksmith shop. Notwithstanding these 
unexampled difficulties, the "Albemarle," when completed and armed with 
two ioo-pounder Armstrong guns, was the most formidable war vessel afloat 
at the time. The Union forces knew that she was under construction, and to 
prevent her egress obstructions were placed across the river, but the very high 
water of April 19, 1863, enabled her to pass these successfully, at midnight. 
Her entrance into the sound was immediately discovered by the gunboats 
" Mattabesett, "Sassacus," "Wyalusing," "Southfield," "Miami," and three 
smaller boats which composed our fleet, the commanders of which, not being 
fully informed as to the character of their adversary, boldly attacked her. 
The " Albemarle " was so heavy as to be unwieldy and her engines were of 
small power, but she was handled with such skill that she 

A Death Wound to succeeded in ramm i ng the " Southfield " with a force that 
the "Southfield." s 

drove her iron prow into the vitals of the gunboat, but the 

blow came near destroying both vessels, for the " Albemarle " was unable to 
detach herself from the sinking " Southfield," and as the latter settled the 
bow of the " Albemarle " was drawn down with her victim. When the 



BRAVEST DEEDS PERFORMED BY AMERICAN SAILORS. 233 

water began rushing in at the bow porthole, the " Albemarle " was released 
by the " Southfield " turning over, whereupon the " Albemarle " righted 
without damage and engaged the " Miami,." which was firing upon the ram 
at such close quarters that a shell rebounding from her iron sides burst and 
killed Lieutenant Flusser of the " Miami," and a dozen of his men. The 
" Albemarle " was excellent as a fortress, but nearly a failure as a vessel 
because of the insufficiency of her power, and having only two guns, at the 
bow and stern, her battery could not be used rapidly, which defect enabled 
the " Miami " and the other vessels to make their escape down the river. 
The "Albemarle " made no attempt to pursue the Union gunboats but turned 
to attack Plymouth, which she forced to surrender on the twentieth. 

The formidable character of the "Albemarle" and her manifest purpose 
and opportunity for inflicting great damage to the Union gunboats co- 
operating with Grant in the campaign for the reduction of 

Richmond, filled the Federal government with the greatest iL PI *" V* Dest ' oy „ 
> & . s the "Albemarle." 

alarm. At this grave juncture, Lieutenant Cushing, who 
lacked one month of being twenty-two years of age, volunteered to undertake 
the destruction of the mighty leviathan of the Confederacy, which had 
come to be regarded in the north as an invulnerable minotaur demanding a 
sacrifice of the Union coast fleets. Anticipating an effort to capture or 
destroy the " Albemarle " while she lay at Plymouth, her officers sought to 
guard against torpedo attack by protecting her sides by placing a boom of 
Cyprus logs, bound together with heavy chains, around her hull for a distance 
of thirty feet, while one of her guns was turned down the river to command 
the approach which an enemy must make from that direction. These pre- 
cautions were known to the brave Cushing, who resolved upon a plan to 
effect his purpose despite them. Accordingly, on the night of October 26, 
he embarked in a small picket boat and began an ascent of Albemarle 
sound, destined for Plymouth, which is at the mouth of the Roanoke. 
He had proceeded only a short distance when his little vessel ran aground 
and action had to be deferred until the following night, which for his good 
fortune was very dark and stormy. Proceeding again at midnight of the 
twenty-seventh, Cushing halted a mile below Plymouth, where he reconnoit- 
ered until, finding that conditions favored his adventure, he boldly pushed on 
by the wreck of the " Southfield " and into the river mouth, until the barking 
of a dog betrayed his approach. This seemed to give the alarm to the 
Confederates, who for some reason had relaxed their vigilance and allowed 
the picket fires to smoulder under the drizzling rain. In a moment, however, 
the watch was fully aroused and the little launch was challenged, to which 
no reply being made a general alarm was sounded, and Cushing saw 



234 BRAVEST DEEDS PERFORMED BY AMERICAN SAILORS. 



that his attempt to surprise the " Albemarle's " crew had miscarried. Not 

to be deterred from his desperate purpose, he set fear at defiance and pushed 

his little boat ahead until his progress was arrested by the logs that 

surrounded the vessel. A volley of musketry from the ram riddled the 

launch but did not arrest its progress. A torpedo was 

A Torpedo Exploded attached to a long spar that was run out from the bow of 
Under the 

Ram's Hull. the l auncn , and by parting the logs the boat was brought 
within a dozen feet of the " Albemarle's " sides, permitting 
Cushing to drop the torpedo, which was then brought against the hull of the 
now fated vessel, where it was promptly fired and with such effect that the 
bottom of the " Albemarle" was torn for a distance of fifty feet, and she 
settled quickly. Of the fourteen volunteers who accompanied Cushing, ten 
surrendered to the Confederates as the launch was fast on the logs, but the 
heroic commander, and John Woodman, acting master's mate, threw off their 
clothes and jumped into the water. They were fired upon by many of the 
shore guards, but were favored by the darkness and swam down the steam 
for a distance of half a mile without being once hit, though the bullets 
struck all around them. Woodman, less expert than Cushing, was unable, 
however, to gain the shore, and sank beneath the murky water, but Cushing 
succeeded in gaining the bank and hid himself in a swamp until morning, 
when he found refuge in a negro's hut and later put off in a skiff to the 
Union fleet in the sound, where he was joyfully received. 

For his heroic act Cushing received a vote of thanks from Congress and 
was promoted to be lieutenant-commander, but shortly after the close of the 
war he was seized of a brain malady that destroyed his mind, which soon 
led to his death. 



STRANGE CUSTOMS OF OUR WEST INDIES NEIGHBORS. 235 



STRANGE CUSTOMS OF OUR WEST INDIES NEIGHBORS- 

By an American Porto Rican. 

SINCE the achievement of Cuban Independence, through United States 
intervention, and the acquisition of ( Porto Rico as a war indemnity, 
the habits, beliefs and singular customs of these island people have 
become subjects of large interest to Americans. Though lying so 
near our coast as to give evidence of having at one time been a part of the 
North American continent, these islands are distinct in their climatic condi- 
tions and natural productions, as their inhabitants are alien, in manner, to 
the civilization of our country. Speaking another tongue than ours, the 
West Indian is characteristically foreign in everything that appertains to our 
customs, social, domestic and political, and years of intimate intercourse will 
be required to accomplish their assimilation with the American people. A 
few of their remarkable habits here given will suffice to justify this conclusion : 
Coffins are rented by the day in Cuba and Porto Rico. When a 
member of a family dies, one of the relatives or a friend goes to a " Casa de 
Funebras," or public undertaker, and enters into negotiations for a coffin. 
He does not buy it, but stipulates for the temporary use. The age and 
height of the late lamented are given, particulars arranged for certain trim- 
mings, and as many mutes as the family purse will permit are engaged. 

The price charged ranges from five dollars to twenty, according to the 
size of the coffin, the decorations and the number of mourning mutes. 
Burials must take place within twenty-four hours of death under penalty of 
a heavy fine. Horses are seldom used, save by the wealthy. When the 
time set for the funeral arrives, a short service, which the immediate family 
does not attend, is held ; then the coffin is lifted upon the shoulders of four 
mutes, who are generally clad in white trousers, long black coats, ancient 
silk hats and high collars. Huge bouquets of artificial flowers are worn in 
the buttonhole, but in many cases the coffin-bearers are barefooted. 

At a word given by the master of ceremonies, also furnished by the 
undertaker, the procession starts for the cemetery, which may be three or 
four miles distant, The spectacle furnished by four grotesque negroes 
swaying and lurching through the uneven streets under the burden of a 
broad, shallow, black-draped coffin, and the thin line of native friends and 
mourners following in the rear, all puffing away at cigarettes or chattering 
gayly over some mot of the day, is remarkable. Haste seems to be the main 



236 STRANGE CUSTOMS OF OUR WEST INDIES NEIGHBORS. 



object. At times the procession moves at a trot, never at less speed than a 
rapid walk. Spectators uncover as the coffin passes, and some make the 
sign of the cross. The followers lessen as the cemetery is neared, and when 
the grave is reached there are seldom more than three or four besides the 
paid mourners. The grave is deep, and at the bottom is a thin layer of 
quicklime. The body, robed in tawdry finery, is taken from the coffin and 
literally dumped in. More lime is used, then the mutes return to their 
employer with the coffin. 

Every Cuban and Porto Rican cemetery is surrounded by immensely 
thick walls containing rows of niches. These niches are sold to the wealthy 
for. five years, the price ranging from forty to two hundred dollars, according 
to the situation. When a body is placed inside a niche the opening is 
bricked up and plastered. Then the services of a cemetery " artist " are 
secured, and a suitable inscription painted upon the white plastered end. 
At the conclusion of five years the niche must be paid for again, or the 
remains will be removed to the common burying corner. 

Visitors to our new possessions will find a multitude of other queer 
trades. In fact, almost every trade or profession is conducted differently 
from the methods pursued in the United States. Beggars 
^H^rseback °" r *^ e 011 norse back and block your way upon a crossing to 
importune you for a peseta. One day recently, while riding 
in Santiago de Cuba, I noticed a wee native boy following me upon a 
sorry-looking burro. As I passed the Plaza de Armas another boy similarly 
mounted fell in behind. Near the cathedral still another joined the proces- 
sion. As I spurred up I heard a clattering in the rear and noticed that my 
escort was plying whips in an effort to keep up. Reining in near the 
Administration Building, I asked them what they wanted., 

a To hold your horse, senor," they replied in chorus. 

They would have followed me ten miles for the sake of earning a five- 
cent piece. * 

One of the officers on General Guy V. Henry's staff in San Juan, Porto 
Rico, rented a house in the pretty little capital, and sent for his family. A 
brother officer, ordered home, sold him his furniture, and 

Carried a Piano ^ e mov ^ n or was placed in the hands of a native hanger-on 
on Thesr Heads. ox- » 

about the palace. The following morning the staff officer 

went to his new abode to receive the furniture. It arrived as he reached the 
house. Coming down the narrow street he saw a strange procession consist- 
ing of twelve or more men. The first six were carrying a piano perched 
upon their heads, and each of the others " toted " a chair or a washstand. 
A moment later another procession came in sight. There were two heavy 



STRANGE CUSTOMS OF OUR WEST INDIES NEIGHBORS. 237 



iron beds, each borne by three men, an immense dresser, under which 
tottered two natives, and finally several boys bearing sundry culinary articles 
and a few odds and ends. 

" Heavens and earth, man," exclaimed the officer, aghast, " you have 
engaged a battalion. For goodness' sake, what's the bill ?" 

" Doce reales, senor," was the calm reply. " One dollar and twenty cents 
in American money." 

The Americans living in Cuba, at least that part embraced in the prov- 
ince of Santiago de Cuba, claim that only one thing worth eating is cooked 
there. It is the bread. Cuban bakers excel in making 

rolls. There is little variety, but what thev bake is first- Cuban Ba ^ e J s 0n *y 

/' J Accomplishment. 

class. Bakers work at night, and long before the sun 

appears, the bread vender is crying his wares in the street. He does not 
travel in a four-wheeled wagon, emblazoned with the name of his employer, 
but carries the rolls, each neatly wrapped in a leaf or husk, in baskets sus- 
pended from the sides of a burro. The vender's melodious cry, " Pan fres- 
a-a ! " is the alarm clock that wakens half the city. There are two new and 
rather peculiar trades in Santiago de Cuba at present, trades which are the 
direct outcome of the American occupation. They are the selling of alleged 
curios and pawned articles, and the shining of shoes. 

An American cannot walk three blocks in the ancient capital without 
being accosted by some native who has a wonderful curio for sale. They 
approach you with a mysterious air, and after a few commonplace remarks 
about the weather and the mortality of the city, hint that you may be able, 
in return for a ridiculously small sum, to obtain possession of the most re- 
markable article ever discovered in the province. If you are new and inex- 
perienced you confess your interest. You are conducted down some narrow 
unpaved street to an adobe " shack " and invited to enter. Your Yankee con- 
tempt of the native forbids fear, and you are soon looking at the wonderful 
curio. It may be a bit of an American shell, a splinter of wood from the 
" Merrimac's " foretop mast, a stone from Monro Castle, or a bone from the 
u Vizcaya's " collection of human remains, but you can rest assured that, in 
nine times out of ten, it is a fake and a snare. 

Shortly after my arrival in Santiago I was shown a dried, wrinkled 

object, which the curio sharp insisted was a human ear. 

It certainlv resembled that appendage in a way, and I Sampson s 

r f s J} Ear for Sale. 

hastened to ask whose particular ear it was. 

" It once was part of an illustrious American general," the man replied 
solemnly. 

" An American general ? " I gasped. " Who ? " 



STRANGE CUSTOMS OF OUR WEST INDIES NEIGHBORS. 



" General Sampson, senor. It very cheap. I sell it for twenty-five 
dollars." 

The evolution of the bootblack in Santiago de Cuba is rather interest- 
ing. The genus did not exist prior to the war, as the Spanish military 
officers and the citizens wore white canvas shoes, which 
Bootblacks in were attended to by the house servants. It was not Ions: 

a Barefoot City. , J & 

after the occupation of the city by the Americans, how- 
ever, that several of the street Arabs — as shrewd in their way as their Yankee 
prototype — began to discover that the newcomers liked to have their shoes 
polished. 

A good-natured soldier constructed a box with the appropriate foot-rest 
and contents, and started one of the boys in business. He did not hold the 
monopoly more than one day. Within forty -eight hours the vicinity of the 
clubs and the Cafe Venus swarmed with half-clad youngsters eager to earn 
an American dime. They- picked up English in a remarkably short space 
of time, and they even went the American bootblack one better by varying 
their request according to the color of the prospective customer's shoes. If 
the color was tan, they would invariably say, " Meester ! Care for shoe 
brown ?" A refusal was met with a choice collection of profane words learned 
from the army teamsters, but uttered in such whimsical English that it was 
impossible to show anger. 

The " hokey-pokey " of Cuba and Porto Rico is a liquid. It consists of 
a sweetened, unfermented liquor, made from a plant, and is as much a delight 
to the native youngster as the Italian microbe-bearing ice- 

Hokey-Pokey cream j s to t ^ e American boy. The " fresca," as it is called, 
of a New Kind. ■- - - , 

is vended from gaily decorated carts, and the huckster an- 
nounces his presence in a street by sounding sonorous blasts upon a cow's 
horn. After the manner of such men in all climes, he usually frequents the 
vicinity of the schools. 

It is a sad commentary on human nature when the purity of the milk 
of commerce is only accepted when the cow delivers it in person. That is 

the peculiar condition of affairs in our new possessions. 
Cows Deliver , housewife of Cuba and Porto Rico ins i sts on 

Their Own Milk. fe : . . 

seeing the cow milked at her door. Hence it is no unusual 

spectacle to find the narrow street obstructed by a collection of bovine animals, 
one of which is being industriously robbed of its milk by a native dairy- 
man. In this operation a calf plays no unimportant part, it having been 
found by experience that the mother cow will surrender her store more 
easily when the calf is given the first chance. There are not many dairy 
farms in the islands, and butter is almost unknown. In fact, the Spanish 



A SKETCH -OF AGUINAlvDO. 



239 



word for butter, 11 mantiquilla," is a recent addition to trie vocabulary, it 

having been derived from " manteca," the word for lard. 

The selling of ice is another innovation. It is only within the last few 

years that ice has been known to the natives, and even now it is confounded 

with snow in the minds of most. In Santiago de Cuba it 

is indiscriminately called " nieve " and " hiele " the former Buying Ice 
J 1 as a Curiosify. 

beiug snow and the latter ice. It is hawked about m the 

streets from small covered carts, and is sold by the pound and half-pound at 
exorbitant prices. The natives from the interior never fail to buy a piece as 
a curiosity, and their childlike wonderment on seeing it melt in their hands 
is laughable. All ice used in the southern islands is manufactured. 

An odd profession in Cuba and Porto Rico, and one undoubtedly native 
to those countries, is the finger nail artist. Among certain members of the 
lower middle class, the clerks and book-keepers, it is con- 
sidered the correct thing to cultivate a certain nail of the A Finger Nail Artist, 
left hand. In fact, it is visible proof that the wearer does 
not perform manual labor.. They argue ingeniously that a man cannot 
shovel or work with his hands if he has a finger nail two or three inches 
long. The " artist " has his regular customeis, and he calls daily and polishes 
and rubs and labors until the pet nail is in proper condition. It is not un- 
usual to find him at work in his customer's store while the latter attends to 
affairs of trade. It is safe to venture that the custom will not invade this 
country. It is useful, however, as an additional peculiarity for the edifica- 
tion of Yankee visitors. 



A SKETCH OF AGUINALDCX 

By J. W. Buel. 

IT is a difficult thing to do, to write with definiteness and accuracy of the 
self-appointed president of the Philippines, but it is no exaggeration to 
' place him among the great men of our times, a position which he 
occupies quite as much by reason of the praise and abuse to which he 
is subjected as by virtue of his abilities as a leader. 

Emilio Aguinaldo was born in the province of Cavite, near Manila, in 
1870, but not even he knows the exact date. His father, it is said, was 
a Spanish officer and his mother a Tagalo-Chinese of low origin, of whom he 
knows but little, and less of his father, while some declare he is son of a dis- 
solute but learned Jesuit priest. This latter claim has some support by the fact 



2 4 © A SKETCH OF AGUINALDO. 

that at the age of four years he was house-boy in the home of a Jesuit priest, 
where, contrary to the general usage, he was treated with kindness and given 
educational advantages which ordinary native servants in the Philippines 
never receive. As a boy he was precocious, was gifted with a remarkable 
memory, and at the age of seven he was regarded as a prodigy of learning. 

The Jesuit priest who undertook his care, placed Emilio in the medical 
department of the University of Manila at the age of fifteen, where he 
remained a year, and then joining the Masonic Order, 
FleeToTms Life w ^ cn was a ca pital offence under the old Spanish law, he 
was compelled to flee to Hong Kong. Here he became 
associated with other expatriated Filipinos, and it was here he conceived the 
purpose of leading an insurrection of his people against Spanish rule in the 
Philippines. In order to prepare himself for the part of an insurgent leader, 
Aguinaldo attended the drills of the British garrison and acquired a knowledge 
of military tactics by a course of private study. He also served for a while 
in the Chinese army, and later in the Chinese navy, and was a studious reader 
of works on strategy and the campaigns of Wellington, Bonaparte, Von 
Moltke and Grant. While at Hong Kong, Aguinaldo made the most of his 
opportunities by studying French, German, Latin, Greek and Chinese, and 
it is said of him that he is able to converse in ten different languages. An 
unconfirmed report represents him as being a student at a Munich university, 
but if this be true his stay in Europe must have been a short one, for in 
1893 he was in Manila — a recognized leader of the Filipinos. 

So successful were the insurgents that the Spanish authorities, seeing 
the impossibility of subduing them by force, offered the rebels many induce- 
ments to lay down their arms, promising a money payment 
Spa, JJ T Tr [ eS f the °f §1,000,000, to grant all reforms requested, and to give 
Golden Promises. a P ar don to all engaged in the rebellion. This agreement 
was accepted by the insurgents, who held themselves faith- 
ful to its terms. Aguinaldo went to Hong Kong to receive the money, but 
while the Spanish Government voted the stipulated sum, corrupt officials kept 
the greater part, paying over only $300,000. Nor was the promise of reform 
fulfilled, but on the contrary the impositions of taxes and torture became 
greater, until in the fall of 1897, Aguinaldo and his compatriots determined 
to raise the flag of revolt again. Thereupon he returned to Manila and 
made a tour of Luzon, visiting all the towns of that island, and by the 
power of his eloquence stirred the fire of revolution until its red glare illu- 
minated all the Philippines. His influence was predominant, the natives 
hailed him as a savior, and invested him with miraculous attributes, believ- 
ing him to be invulnerable and omnipotent. 



t 



A SKETCH OF AGUINALDO. 241 

Agiiinaldo proved himself a man of amazing resources, as well as one 
remarkable for keen foresight and adroitness. Though never able to raise 
large sums of money, he managed to procure considerable arms and muni- 
tions, and maintained an army no larger than he was prepared to equip. 
The explosion of the " Maine " he accepted as a presage of war between 
America and Spain, and all his prophecies were literally fulfilled. He wrote 
and spoke with intense and patriotic earnestness which compelled the admi- 
ration of even his enemies. Foreseeing that war was inevitable, he went to 
Hong Kong, and there cultivated the friendship of Mr. Wildman, the 
American consul of that city, who, Aguinaldo and Agoncillo declare, prom- 
ised independence to the Filipinos, and professed to have authority from 
Washington for making such promise. Belief that an agreement of this 
character was made seems to be generally prevalent among foreign consuls 
at Hong Kong, though Mr. Wildman vigorously denies 

that he ever held out any such inducement, and disclaims A g uma,do ' s ^ roph " 

J ... ecles of War. 

authority to act for the government as a ministerial agent. 

In any event, Aguinaldo, as if acting upon the belief that help of the 
insurgents to expel Spain would be rewarded by an acknowledgment of their 
independence, returned to the Philippines and inaugurated plans of campaign 
against the Spaniards at Manila and many other military posts on the islands. 
He was also furnished many stands of arms and a large quantity of ammu- 
nition by the American Government, and in other respects was recognized 
as our ally. During the war between Spain and America, it is admitted 
that the Filipino insurgents captured 15,000 Spanish soldiers and 
destroyed Spanish power in all the islands, except Luzon. 

While fighting Spain successfully at every point, Aguinaldo organized 
a provisional government, and on June 23 (1898), he was confirmed general- 
in-chief and president of the Filipino government, thus 
preparing the way to the independence which he expected ^^f^ 1 ^ 1 
to achieve. In December, Aguinaldo formed his second Government, 
cabinet, and has since discharged the functions of an actual 
ruler, issuing proclamations, levying taxes, and collecting duties. He has 
'also familiarized himself as far as possible with our form of government, 
and is said to be able to repeat from memory the whole of the Constitution 
of the United States. His army, at the outbreak of hostilities with the 
United States, February 4 (1899), comprised 25,000 men, all fairly well 
armed, but poorly drilled, though capable of offering a stubborn resistance, 
the character of the country being such as makes their kind of warfare most 
difficult to combat 



16 



CAPTURE OF GUAM. 



CAPTURE OF GUAM. 

By Lieut. William Braunersreuther, 

{Chief Executive Officer of the Cruiser " Charleston.") 

ON June 20 as we lay off the Ladrones, I received orders from 
Henry Glass, captain of the " Charleston," to go ashore and take 
posses-ion of Agana, capital of the islands, and also to make 
prisoners of the Spanish authorities I should find there, especially 
the governor. To accomplish this purpose I took a force of 160 marines, 
with which I landed unopposed, and proceeded to the capital and presented 
to the governor my letter and demand from Captain Glass, which letter was 
in the form of an ultimatum. 

The captain's instructions were to wait a half hour for his answer to 
our ultimatum, then use my troops. I waited, and in just twenty-nine 
minutes the governor handed me his sealed reply, addressed to the captain 
of my ship, then in the harbor about four or five miles off. 

I knew this was sealed with the object of gaining time, and hence I 
broke the seal, read the contents, the governor protesting and saying that 
that was a letter for my captain. I replied : " I represent him here. You 
are now my prisoners, senors, and . will have to come on board ship with 
me." They protested and pleaded, and finally the governor said: " You 
came on shore to talk over matters, and you make us prisoners instead." 

I replied: " I came on shore to hand you a letter and to get your reply; 
in this reply now in my hands you agree to surrender all under your juris- 
diction. If this means anything at all, it means that you will accede to any 
demands I may deem proper to make. You will at once write an order to 
your military man at Agana (the capital, which was five miles distant), 
directing him to deliver at this place at 4 p. m. (it was then 10.30 a. m., 
June 21), all ammunition and flags on the island, each soldier on the island 
to bring his own rifle and ammunition; and all the soldiers, native and Span- 
ish, with their officers, must witness this." 

They protested and demurred, declaring this was not time enough to do 
it. But I said: "Senors, it must be done." 

The letter was written, read by me and sent. I took all the officers 
with me in a boat, and at 4 p. m., went ashore again and rounded in the 
whole outfit. I was three miles away from my troops and had only four 
men with me. At 4 p. m., when I disarmed 108 men and two officers, I had 
forty-six men and three officers with me. 



CAPTURE OF GUAM. 



243 



The keynote to the whole business was my breaking the seal of that 
letter and acting at once. The governor had no time to delay or pre- 
pare any treacherous tricks, and I got " the drop " on the whole outfit, as 
they say out West. The native troops I released and allowed to return to 
their homes unrestricted; they had manifested great joy at being relieved from 
Spanish rule. While it was harsh, it was war, and in connection with the 
Spanish treachery it was all that could be done. Twenty-four hours would 
have — yes, I believe even four hours, with a leader such as the governor was, 
a lieutenant-colonel in the Spanish army — given them a chance to hide along 
the road at Agana, and at intervals in the dense tropical foliage they could 
have almost annihilated any force we could land. The approaches to the 
landing over shallow coral reefs would have made landing without terri- 
ble loss of life almost an impossibility; but all is well that ends well. 

We have increased by conquest the population of the United States by 
nearly 12,000 people. The capital has a population of 6,000 people. The 
harbor in which we were is beautiful, easy of access, plenty of" deep water, 
admitting of the presence of a large number of vessels at the same time, and 
is an ideal place for a coaling station. If our government decides to hold the 
Philippines, it would then come in so well ; San Francisco to Honolulu, 
2,100 miles ; Honolulu to Island of Guam, 3,300, and thence to Manila, 
1,600 miles. With a chain of supply stations like this we could send troops 
the whole year round, if necessary, and any vessel with a steaming capacity 
of 3,500 miles could reach a base of supplies. 

The details I have scarcely touched upon, but had the officials and 
soldiers dreamed for one moment that they were to be torn from their homes, 
there would, I feel sure, have been another story to tell, and I am firmly con- 
vinced this letter would never have been written. 

The captain, in extending to me his congratulations, remarked : " Braun- 
ersreuther, you'll never as long as you live have another experience such 
as this. I congratulate you on your work." All this affair was transacted 
in Spanish. I had an interpreter with me, but forgot all about using him. I 
did not want them to get a chance to think even before it was too late. 
The results of this expedition was the capture of 54 Spanish soldiers, 
6 officers, 50 Mauser rifles, and 10,000 rounds of ammunition, besides the 
formal occupation of the islands, by raising the United States flag over the 
capitol building. 



244 SHOT AND SHELL! 

SHOT AND SHELL! 
The Fierce Combat That Swept Cervera's Squadron From the Sea/ 

By 

ADMIRAL CERVERA'S squadron, composed of four powerful 
cruisers and two torpedo boats, which had been blockaded in 
^ Santiago Harbor, Cuba, for more than a month, made a vain 
effort to escape therefrom on July 3, 1898. 
The enemy's vessels came out of the harbor between 9.35 and 10 a. m., 
the head of the column appearing around Cay Smith at 9.31, and emerging 
from the channel five or six minutes later. 

The position of the vessels of my command off Santiago at that 
moment were as follows : The flagship " New York " was four miles east of 
her blockading station and about seven miles from the harbor entrance. She 
had started for Siboney, where I intended to land, accompanied by several 
of my staff, and go to the front to consult with General Shafter. A discus- 
sion of the situation, and a more definite understanding between us of the 
operations proposed, had been rendered necessary by the unexpectedly strong 
resistance of the Spanish garrison of Santiago. 

I had sent my chief of staff on shore the day before to arrange an 
interview with General Shafter, who had been suffering from heat prostra- 
tion. I made arrangements to go to his headquarters, and my flagship was 
in the position mentioned above when the Spanish squadron appeared in the 
channel. The remaining vessels were in or near their usual blockading 
positions, distributed in a semicircle about the harbor entrance, counting 
from the eastward to the westward in the following order : The " Indiana " 
about a mile and a half from the shore ; the " Oregon " in the " New 
York's " place ; between these two, the " Iowa," " Texas " and " Brooklyn," 
the latter two miles from the shore west of Santiago. The distance of the 
vessels from the harbor entrance was from two and one-half to four miles, 
the latter being the limit of day-blockading distance. The length of the 
arc formed by the ships was about eight miles. The " Massachusetts " 
had left at 4 a. m., for Guantanamo, for coal. Her station was between the 




SHOT AND SHEUv! 245 

"Iowa" and "Texas." The auxiliaries "Gloucester" and "Vixen" lay 
close to the land and nearer the harbor entrance than the large vessels, the 
" Gloucester " to the eastward and the " Vixen " to the westward. The 
torpedo boat " Ericsson " was in company with the flagship, and 
remained with her during the chase until ordered to discontinue, when she 
rendered very efficient service in rescuing prisoners from the burning 
" Vizcaya." 

The Spanish vessels came out of the harbor at a speed estimated 

at from eight to ten knots, and in the following order: "Infanta Maria 

Teresa " (flagship), " Vizcaya," " Cristobal Colon " and 

the " Almirante Oquendo." The distance between these s P a " ish Vessels 

Appear. 

ships was about 800 yards, which means that from the 
time the first one became visible in the upper reach of the channel until the 
last one was out of the harbor, an interval of only about twelve minutes 
elapsed. Following the " Oquendo," at a distance of about 1,200 yards, 
came the torpedo-boat destroyer " Pluton," and after her the " Furor." The 
armored cruisers, as rapidly as they could bring their guns to bear, opened a 
vigorous fire upon the blockading vessels and emerged from the channel 
shrouded in the smoke from their guns. 

The men of our ships in front of the port were at Sunday " quarters for 
inspection." The signal was made simultaneously from several vessels, 
" Enemy's ships escaping," and general quarters was sounded. The men 
cheered as they sprang to their guns, and fire was opened probably within 
eight minutes by the vessels whose guns commanded the entrance. The 
" New York" turned about and steamed for the escaping fleet, flying the 
signal " Close in toward harbor entrance and attack vessels," and gradually 
increasing speed until toward the end of the chase she was making 18 % 
knots, and was rapidly closing on the " Cristobal Colon." She was not, at 
any time, within the range of heavy Spanish ships, and her only part in 
the engagement was to receive the undivided fire from the forts in passing 
the harbor entrance and to discharge a few shots at one of the destroyers, 
thought at that moment to be attempting to escape from the " Gloucester." 

The Spanish vessels, upon clearing the harbor, turned to the westward 
in column, increasing their speed to the full power of their engines. The 
heavy blockading vessels, which had closed in toward the Morro at the 
instant of the enemy's appearance and at their best speed, delivered a rapid 
fire, well sustained and destructive, which speedily overwhelmed and silenced 
the Spanish fire. The initial speed of the Spaniards carried them rapidly 
past the blockading vessels and the battle developed into a chase, in which 
the " Brooklyn " and " Texas " had at the start the advantage of position 



246 



SHOT AND SHKl.lv! 



The " Brooklyn " maintained this lead. The " Oregon," steaming with 

amazing speed from the commencement of the action, took first place. The 

" Iowa " and the " Indiana," having done good work, and not having the 

speed of the other ships, were directed by me, in succession, at about the 

time the " Vizcaya " was beached, to drop out of the chase and resume 

blockading stations. These vessels rescued many prisoners. The " Vixen," 

finding that the rush of the Spanish ships would put her between two fires, 

ran outside of our own column and remained there during the battle and chase. 

The skillful handling and gallant fighting of the " Gloucester " excited 

the admiration of every one who witnessed it and merits the commendation 

of the Navy Department. She is a fast and entirely un- 

Praiseforthe p ro t e cted auxiliary vessel — the vacht "Corsair " — and has 
" Gloucester." r J J 

a good battery of light rapid-fire guns. She was lying 

ab^ut two miles from the harbor entrance, to the southward and eastward, 
and immediately steamed in, opening fire upon the large- ships. Anticipat- 
ing the appearance of the " Pluton " and " Furor," the " Gloucester " was 
slowed, thereby gaining more rapidly a high pressure of steam, and when 
the destroyers came out she ran for them at full speed, and was able to 
close to short range, where her fire was accurate, deadly and of great value. 

During this fight the " Gloucester " was under the fire of the Socapa 
battery. Within twenty minutes from the time they emerged from Santiago 
harbor the careers of the " Furor " and " Pluton " were ended and two-thirds 
of their crews killed. The " Furor " was beached and sunk in the surf ; 
the " Pluton " sank in deep water a few minutes later. The destroyers 
probably suffered much injury from the fire of the secondary batteries of the 
battleships " Iowa," " Indiana " and " Texas," yet I think a very considerable 
factor in their speedy destruction was the fire, at close range, of the " Glou- 
cester's " battery. After rescuing the survivors of the destroyers, the " Glou- 
cester " did excellent service in landing and rescuing: the crew of the " In- 
fanta Maria Teresa." 

. The method of escape attempted by the Spaniards, all steering in the 
same direction and in formation, removed all tactical doubts or difficulties, 
and made plain the duty of every United States vessel to 
End of the Teresa c j ose • i mmec liatelv en^a^e and pursue. This was 

and "Qquendo." ' & & r 

promptly and effectively done. As already stated, the 
first rush of the Spanish squadron carried it past a number of the blockad- 
ing ships, which could not immediately work up to their best speed ; but 
they suffered heavily in passing ; and the " Infanta Maria Teresa " and the 
" Oquendo " were probably set on fire by shells discharged during the first 
fifteen minutes of the engagement. It was afterward learned that the 



SHOT AND SHELL ! 



247 



u Infanta Maria Teresa's" fire main had been cut off by one of our first shots 
and that she was unable to extinguish the flames. With large volumes of 
smoke rising from their lower decks aft, these vessels gave us both fight 
and flight, and ran in on the beach— the " Infanta Maria Teresa " at about 10.15 
a.m., at Nima Nima, six and one-half miles from Santiago harbor entrance, 
and the "Almirante Oquendo " at about 10.20 a. m., at Juan Gonzales, seven 
miles from the port. 

The " Vizcaya " was still under the fire of the leading vessels ; the 
" Cristobal Colon" had drawn ahead, leading the chase, and soon passed 
beyond the range of the guns of the leading American ships. The 
"Vizcaya" was soon set on fire, and at 11. 15 she turned in shore and was 
beached at Asserradero, fifteen miles from Santiago, burning fiercely, and 
with her reserves of ammunition on deck already beginning to explode. 
When about ten miles west of Santiago, the " Indiana " had been signaled 
to go back to the harbor entrance, and at Asserraderos the " Iowa " was 
signaled to " resume blockading station." The " Iowa," assisted by the 
" Ericsson " and the " Hist," took off the crew of the " Vizcaya," while the 
"Harvard" and the "Gloucester" rescued those of the "Infanta Maria 
Teresa " and the " Almirante Oquendo." This rescue of prisoners, including 
the wounded, from the burning Spanish vessels, was the occasion of some of 
the most daring and gallant conduct of the day. The ships were burning 
fore and aft, their guns and reserve, ammunition were exploding, and it was 
not known at what moment the fire would reach the main magazines. In 
addition to this a heavy surf was running just inside of the Spanish ships. 
But no risk deterred our officers and men until their work of humanity was 
complete. 

There remained now of the Spanish ships only the " Cristobal Colon ;" 
but she was their best and fastest vessel. Forced by the situation to hug 
the Cuban coast, her only chance of escape was by superior 
and sustained speed. When the " Vizcaya " went ashore the "« Colo n^" 
the " Colon " was about six miles ahead of the " Brooklyn " 
and the " Oregon ;" but her spurt was finished and the American ships were 
now gaining upon her. Behind the " Brooklyn" and the " Oregon " came 
the "Texas," "Vixen" and "New York." It was evident from the bridge 
of the " New York " that all the American ships were gradually overhauling 
the " Colon " and that she had no chance of escape. At fifty minutes past 
twelve the " Brooklyn " and the " Oregon" opened fire and got her range, the 
" Oregon's " heavy shell striking beyond her, and at 1.20 she gave up without 
firing another shot, hauled down her colors and ran ashore at Rio Torquino, 
forty-eight miles from Santiago. Captain Cook r of the " Brooklyn," went on 



248 



SHOT AND SHEIX! 



board to receive the surrender. While his boat was alongside I came up in 
the 1 " New York," received his report, and placed the " Oregon " in charge 
of the wreck to save her, if possible, and directed the prisoners to be trans- 
ferred to the "Resolute," which had followed the chase. 

Commodore Schley, whose chief of staff had gone on board to receive 
the surrender, had directed that all their personal effects should be retained 
by the officers. This order I did not modify. The " Cristobal Colon " was 
not injured by our firing, and was probably not much injured by beaching, 
though she ran ashore at high speed. The beach was so steep that she came 
off by the working of the sea. But her sea valves were opened and broken, 
treacherously, I am sure, after her surrender, and despite all efforts she sank. 
When it became evident that she could not be kept afloat, she was pushed 
by the "New York" bodily up on the beach — the "New York's" stern 
being placed against her for this purpose, the ship being handled by Captain 
Chad wick with admirable judgment — and sank in shoal water. Had this 
not been done she would have gone down in deep water, and would have 
been, to a certainty, a total loss. 

I regard this complete and important victory over the Spanish forces as 
the successful finish of several weeks of arduous and close blockade, so 
stringent and effective during the night that the enemy was deterred from 
making the attempt to escape at night, and deliberately elected to make the 
attempt at daylight. That this was the case I was informed by the com- 
manding officer of the " Cristobal Colon." 

It seems proper to briefly describe here the manner in which this was 
accomplished. The harbor of Santiago is naturally easy to blockade, there 
being but one entrance, and that a narrow one ; and the 
Blockading deep water extending close up to the shore line presenting 
no difficulties of navigation outside of the entrance. At 
the time of my arrival before the port, June 1, the moon was at its full, 
and there was sufficient light during the night to enable any movement out- 
side of the entrance to be detected ; but with the waning of. the moon, and 
the coming of dark nights, there was opportunity for the enemy to escape, 
or for his torpedo boats to make an attack upon the blockading vessels. It 
was ascertained, with fair conclusiveness, that the " Merrimac," so gallantly 
taken into the channel on June 3, did not obstruct it. 

I therefore maintained the blockade as follows : To the battleships was 
assigned the duty, in turn, of lighting the channel. Moving up to the port, 
at a distance of from one to two miles from the Monro — dependent upon the 
condition of the atmosphere — they threw a searchlight beam directly up the 
channel and held it steadily there. This lightened up the entire breadth of 



SHOT AND SHEW, ! 



249 



the channel for a mile inside of the entrance so brilliantly that the movement 
of small boats could be detected. Why the batteries never opened fire upon 
the searchlight ship was always a matter of surprise to me ; but they never 
did. Stationed close to the entrance of the port were three picket launches, 
and at a little distance further out, three small picket vessels — usually con- 
verted yachts — and, when they were available, one or two of our torpedo 
boats. With this arrangement there was at least a certainty that nothing 
could get out of the harbor undetected. 

After the arrival of the army, when the situation forced upon the Span- 
ish admiral a decision, our vigilance increased. The night blockading dis- 
tance was reduced to two miles for all vessels, and a battleship was placed 
alongside the searchlight ship, with her broadside trained upon the channel 
in readiness to fire the instant a Spanish ship should appear. The com- 
manding officers merit the greatest praise for the perfect manner in which 
they entered into this plan and put it into execution. The " Massachusetts," 
which according to routine was sent that morning to coal at Guantanamo, 
like the others, had spent weary nights upon this work, deserved a better 
fate than to be absent that morning. 

When all the work was done so well it is difficult to discriminate in 
praise. The object of the blockade of Cervera's squadron was fully accom- 
plished, and each individual bore well his part in it — the commodore in com- 
mand of the second division, the captains of ships, their officers and men. 
The fire of the battleships was powerful, and destructive, and the resistance 
of the Spanish squadron was, in great part, broken almost before they had 
got beyond the range of their own forts. The fine speed of the " Oregon " 
enabled her to take a front position in the chase, and the " Cristobal Colon " 
did not give up until the " Oregon " had thrown a 13-inch shell beyond her. 

This performance adds to the already brilliant record of this fine battle- 
ship, and speaks highly of the skill and care with which her admirable 

efficiency has been maintained during: a service unprece- 

. "Oregon's" 

dented in the history of vessels of her class. The Bri j| iant Record. 
" Brooklyn's " westerly blockading position gave her an 
advantage in the chase, which she maintained 8, to the end, and she employed 
her fine battery with telling effect. The " Texas " and the " New York " 
were gaining on the chase during the last hour, and had any accident 
befallen the " Brooklyn " or the " Oregon," would have speedily overhauled 
the " Cristobal Colon." 

From the moment the Spanish vessel exhausted her first burst of speed 
the result was never in doubt. She fell, in fact, far below what might 
reasonably have been expected of her. Careful measurements of time and 



250 



SHOT AND SHELL 1 



distance gave her an average speed from the time she cleared the harbor 
mouth until the time she run on shore at Rio Tarquino of 13.7 knots. 
Neither the " New York " nor the " Brooklyn " stopped to couple up their 
forward engines, but ran out the chase with one pair, getting steam, of 
course, as rapidly as possible on all boilers. To stop to couple up the forward 
engines would have meant a delay of fifteen minutes, or four miles, in the 
chase. 

Several of the ships were struck, the "Brooklyn" more frequently than 
the others, but very slight material injury was done, the greatest being aboard 
the " Iowa." Our loss was one man killed and one wounded, both on the 
" Brooklyn." It is difficult to explain this immunity from loss of life or 
injury to ships in a combat with modern vessels of the best type, but 
Spanish gunnery is poor at best, and the superior weight and accuracy of 
our fire speedily drove the men from their guns and silenced their fire. This 
is borne out by the statements of prisoners and by observation. The Spanish 
vessels, as they dashed out of the harbor, were covered with the smoke from 
their own guns, but this speedily diminished in volume and soon almost 
disappeared. 

The fire from the rapid-fire batteries of the battleships appears to have 
been remarkably destructive. An examination of the stranded vessels 
showed that the "Almirante Oquendo," especially, had suffered terribly from 
this fire. Her sides were everywhere pierced and her decks were strewn 
with the charred remains of those who had fallen, but the other Spanish 
vessels suffered almost equalfy, thus proving the great efficiency and accuracy 
of the American guns and the skill of American sailors in handling them. 



LIFE AMONG THE PHILIPPINES. 



25 1 



LIFE AMONG THE PHILIPPINES. 

By Dean C. Worcester, 

{Member of the Philippine Commission.} 

THE insurrection headed by Aguinaldo in the Philippine Islands hav- 
ing assumed proportions far beyond general expectation, with a 
possibility that it may not be speedily suppressed, interest naturally 
now centres in the character of the population which has come 
under the guardianship of the United States and in the opportunities which 
the occupation of this large and valuable territory offers to American enter- 
prise. The McEnery resolution, passed by a small majority of the United 
States Senate,—- the vote in its favor being less than one-third of a full 
Senate, — would have been much more important in its influence on the 
future course of the United States, but for Aguinaldo's attack upon our 
army at Manila. Had the Philippine insurgents yielded to American 
authority peacefully, after the passage of such a resolution by the Senate, 
they might have claimed that it was, in a certain sense, a guarantee of 
independence for the Philippines. As it is, the resolution amounts only to a 
declaration of policy, without any binding force upon the United States 
government. 

The people of the Philippine Islands are not all savages. 'The majority 

are semi-civilized, a few are civilized in the full meaning of that term, and a 

considerable number are still in a savage state. Nor are 

the civilized confined to the island of Luzon, on which Not A" of Them 

' m . Savages. 

Manila is situated, for influences of considerable political 

and social development are to be seen in sections of all the five largest 
islands of the group. In my tour of the islands I visited the somewhat 
remote town of Damaguite, in southern Negros, which to my surprise I 
found to be a typical Visayan place of the better class. Its shops are kept 
by Chinese merchants. The population, numbering, perhaps, eight thousand 
souls, is composed chiefly of natives, with comparatively few half-breeds, and 
still fewer Spaniards. The soil near the town is fertile, and the people 
seemed prosperous. The public buildings are more than ordinarily impos- 
ing. The church and a convent, or priest's house, are in excellent repair, 
and the population generally seemed happy and contented, although instances 
of the most cruel oppression on the part of the Spanish rulers were fre- 
quently witnessed. Living costs little. The average Visayan with a 



LIFE AMONG THE PHILIPPINES. 



couple of bushels of shelled corn, or a measure of rice in the house, and a 
bit of dried fish for dessert, wisely lies on the floor, smokes his cigarette, 
thrums his guitar, and composes extemporary songs on current events. His 
wife does the cooking and brings the water. When the provisions give out, 
it will be quite soon enough to look for more. 

The savages on the island of Negros may be described as good-natured 
people, who do no harm to others when they have no reason to fear harm to 
themselves. The Spaniards had been in the habit of 
Th of R Negros and s h°°ti n g them, merely for amusement, and the so-called 
savages naturally resented this treatment. Negros, which is 
4,670 square miles in area, is probably the richest island of its size in the 
archipelago. The fertile lowlands along the coast are extensively cultivated, 
although much good land still lies idle, and offers an opportunity to Ameri- 
can settlers who have capital to invest in planting, and taste and health for 
that line of business in the hot climate of the Philippines. Fine tobacco is 
grown on some plantations, but sugar is the most important crop. 

It is a mistake to suppose that all Philippine towns are dirty. In this 
respect, some of them are considerably superior to Cuba. Zamboanga, on 
the island of Mindanao, one of the oldest Spanish settlements, is large and 
clean. It has a pier extending out to moderately deep water, though large 
vessels have to lie some distance offshore. Spanish extortion has driven 
commerce from Zamboanga, but under good American government Australian 
and other vessels will no doubt call there again, as in former times. 

The manner in which the Spaniards have treated the natives was illus- 
trated during my stay at Zamboanga. There was a gray-haired old fellow 
about the hotel, who did some work in the stables. He 
Spa*ni™h P (>uelty cnance ^ to P ass through a room in which I- was sitting, in 
company with several Spanish officers, and one of the 
latter ordered him to bring a drink. Although he was not a waiter, he set 
off on the errand ; but he was old and slow, and, when he returned, the officer 
became angry because he had been gone so long, knocked him down, and 
kicked him in the ribs. I found the victim, later, dying in a manger. 

It may be mentioned here, that the chief Spanish official at Concepcion, 
on the Island of Panay, caused delinquent taxpayers to be caught and tied 
to trees. Vicious dogs were then set upon the victims, and encouraged to 
worry them. The same official ordered the natives to concentrate in the 
towns, and made a practice of riding about the country and burning the 
huts of those who failed to heed his command. 

Mindanao is next in importance to, and nearly as large as Luzon. It is 
probable that, notwithstanding the victories gained in Luzon, the Island of 



LIFE AMONG THE PHILIPPINES. 



253 



Mindanao will witness prolonged difficulty in the establishment of American 
authority. The reason is that the Spaniards have held only small strips of 
the coast, while the remainder is inhabited largely by pagan and Mohamme- 
dan tribes. When General Weyler commanded in the Philippines, he sent 
an expedition against the Mohammedans. The Spaniards marched into the 
forests of Mindanao, the enemy retreating before them. Fever and starvation 
disabled 80 per cent of the Spaniards, and the mortality was terrible. 
Weyler remained safe on a dispatch boat, while his troops were perishing, 
and sent messages to Manila, announcing glorious victories. 

These tribes remain unsubdued, and as most of them probably know no 
difference between a Spaniard and an American, it is likely that trouble will 
be encountered in bringing them to a recognition of 

. . rri* . r TTT , , , Tribes That are 

American power. The experience ot Weylers troops will stm Unsubdued 
be a valuable lesson for American military commanders, 
and may prevent the loss of many American lives. Mindanao is an island 
well worthy, however, of being rescued from the control of non-producing 
savages. The soil, especially in the river and lake regions, is remarkably 
productive. Little is known of the mineral wealth, but it is certain that 
gold exists in paying quantities at a number of points. Diggings have long 
been worked by the natives near Misamis and Surigao. The scenery of 
Mindanao, also, is very fine. The largest known flower, measuring three 
feet in diameter, has been discovered there. There are several active 
volcanoes on the island. Extensive areas are covered with magnificent trees, 
and apart from the valuable forest products which Mindanao has in common 
with several of the other islands, gutta-percha is abundant in certain 
localities. The island is well watered, and its rivers are more important 
than those of Luzon. Such is the rich territory which, although nominally 
possessed by the Spaniards for hundreds of years, is as free from civilized 
control as were the forests of Yucatan when Cortez landed on the Mexican 
coast. The presence of precious metals in the interior will certainly insure 
a large immigration of the same adventurous class that invaded California in 
1849, and aroused the land of gold from its siesta of centuries. 

When the natives of the Philippines shall have been won over to the 
peaceable acceptance of American supremacy, they will, according to trust- 
worthy opinion, prove useful and faithful friends of the 
United States. One great need of the Philippine natives islanders * 
is education. The savages are, of course, without any 
literary training at all. The education of the semi-civilized natives consists 
of a little catechism and a few prayers, which they learn in their own dialect. 
The more fortunate get some knowledge of writing and arithmetic, with 5 



254 



THE FILIPINO INSURRECTION. 



possibly, a smattering of Spanish. Public school training will undoubtedly 
form part of the program of an American administration, and there is every 
reason to believe that it will have a redeeming and improving influence on 
the plastic native character. 



THE FILIPINO INSURRECTION. 



The White Man's Burden in the Islands of the Orient, Where Our 

Flag Has Been Planted. 

By a Membkr of the Philippine Commission. 

WHEN the Filipino insurgents fired on the American outposts at 
Manila, February 4, 1899, that hostile act forced the United 
States to take up the " White Man's Burden," placing upon us, 
as it did, a mighty responsibility, which we cannot with honor 
escape. Another war has been thus imposed without our seeking, in the 
prosecution of which our soldiers and sailors, our troop, war and supply 
ships are girdling the earth and sailing on every sea. 

The United States has become an active world power so suddenly that 
many citizens do not yet realize all that has happened. A few plain facts 
will aid them. We are now maintaining more soldiers 
Our Ships and Sol- outs j^ e f our own borders than any country except Eng- 
diers at Manila. J j r t> 

land. This nation has now 60,000 troops in the Philip- 
pines, Cuba and Porto Rico, or on the way thither. England keeps 76,995 
British soldiers in India and 38,522 in her colonies. France and Germany, 
which are the chief colonial powers after England, defend their colonies 
chiefly by means of native levies, and the numbers of soldiers sent from the 
home countries do not compare with those of England and the United States. 

General Eawton, our best available fighting man, has been sent to the 
Philippines to end the war there. General Otis will then become Governor. 
There are now about 18,000 American soldiers in the Philippines, and 
recently three ships carried 6,000 more, so that General Lawton will have 
24,000 men under him ; and it is the purpose of the Administration to 
increase this force to 41,000 men. 



THE FILIPINO INSURRECTION. 



255 



Admiral Dewey has twenty-three fighting ships under him and more 
than four thousand officers and men. Here is a list of his ships, prepared 
by the Navy Department March 1 : 

Vessels. . Officers. Men. Marines. 

Baltimore 36 275 36 

Bennington . 16 163 18 

Boston 19 237 33 

Buffalo 17 230 25 

Callao 10 25 — 

Castine 11 „ 130 12 

Charleston 20 250 36 

Concord 13 163 18 

Culgoa 10 40 — 

Don Juan de Austria 10 111 — 

Helena 10 151 15 

Isla de Luzon — 7 — 

Isla de Cuba 10 129 — 

Manila 11 56 — 

Monadnock 26 175 — 

Monocacy 12 129 18 

Monterey 19 187 — 

Olympia 34 377 36 

Petrel 10 112 — 

Princeton 11 114 12 

Yorktown 14 *6$ 18 

Solace 10 125 27 

Total 329 3,359 304 

The " Oregon " will add 32 officers, 402 men and 60 marines, and the 
"Iris" 5 officers and 93 men. The "Buffalo" took out several hundred, 
but these do not affect the total, as her passengers were to replace men whose 
terms of enlistment had expired, and who wanted to return to this country. 
The American flag, for many years a rarity on distant seas, has become a 
familiar sight at all the stations on the world's great ocean routes. 

At Gibraltar, Malta, Port Said, Suez, Perim, Colombo, Singapore, at 

Honolulu, at Apia, at Yokohoma and Hong Kong, the 

Stars and Stripes and the blue uniforms of American sol- . 0ur ^. en t . 

r Around the World. 

diers and sailors are now looked for. 

In the procession from New York to the eastward there have gone out 
the armed transports " Grant " (with General Lawton on board), " Sherman " 
and "Sheridan," the gunboats "Princeton," "Castine" and "Helena," and 
the armed auxiliaries " Solace " and " Buffalo." 

At this w T ri ting (March 10, 1899), the "Buffalo" and "Helena" have 
reached Manila. The " Sheridan " is near Gibraltar, the " Sherman "is in 
the Red Sea, the " Grant " well on her way across the great gulf of the 



THE FILIPINO INSURRECTION. 



Indian Ocean, having coaled at Colombo, Island of Ceylon, off the coast of 
India. The " Solace," the "Princeton" and the " Castine " have passed 
through the Suez Canal from Port Said. The " Yosemite " and " Abarenda," 
bound for the far Pacific by the same route, are about to leave the Norfolk 
Navy Yard, and will fall in after the other vessels in the 12,000 mile-long 
procession. The auxiliary cruiser " Badger " is also on her way to the 
Pacific from the Atlantic, but is going by way of the Straits of Magellan. 

Out from the Golden Gate at San Francisco there has passed another 
procession of fighting ships bound for the same destination as those sailing 
along on the opposite side of the globe. The path across the Pacific may 
now be said to be "well worn," for across it have passed nearly all the 
vessels now at Manila, including the cruisers " Baltimore," " Charleston," 
" Olympia," " Boston," " Concord," the gunboat " Petrel," the monitors 
" Monterey " and " Monadnock." 

The two second-class cruisers "Bennington" and " York town," sister 
ships of the " Concord," have only just completed the long voyage by way 
of Honolulu and Guam, and the Pacific is still freighted with our regiments, 
bound for Manila, and our cruisers and gunboats protecting our interests, 
now for the first time of great importance, in the widely scattered islands of 
that ocean. 

The big battleship " Oregon," for which Dewey cabled, is plough- 
ing her way to the westward from Hawaii, on a long run which promises to 
give her another record as creditable as the one she made on her famous 
voyage around the Horn. At Honolulu, or near there, is the gunboat 
" Iroquois." Following the " Oregon " are the big armed colliers " Brutus," 
" Nero " and " Scindia," and the distilling ship " Iris," forming a veritable 
armada, of which the " Oregon " is the mountain of strength. The auxiliary 
and supply vessel " Celtic," which left San Francisco on February 18, cannot 
be far behind. 

On the armed transports " Ohio," " Scandia " and " Senator," which are 
now nearly three weeks out from San Francisco, are nearly 4,000 soldiers of 
our regular army, who will find a hearty welcome from General Otis on the 
completion of their voyage, about March 15, if all goes well. 

It has been pointed out how great a force of American soldiers is now 
maintained outside of the country. It is out of proportion to the forces 
maintained by other colonial powers. The system of raising native troops 
followed by those powers will have to be adopted by the United States. An 
officer of the Bureau of Military Intelligence at Washington has prepared 
a statement on the probable methods of organizing native troops. 




THE CRUISER "BROOKLYN" CAPTURING A SPANISH SAILING VESSEL. 



WELCOMING THE RETURN OF OUR VICTORIOUS FLEET AT NEW YORK, 

AUGUST 20, 1898. 





i 




OPENING OF THE BATTLE AT LAS GUASIMAS. 



4 

THE FlIylPINO INSURRECTION. 



25? 



The question of recruiting native West Indians and Filipinos into our 
army service abroad is at present a very live one with the military authori- 
ties, who, with tables and plans, must anticipate in a mea- 
sure any probable legislation affecting the army in these R a j se Native 
times of lightning transformation. Troops. 

England's task in raising an army in India was some- 
what similar to that which is about to face us in our colonial possessions, 
for, though India is one country, while we have to do with peoples of various 
islands, widely separated, it is such a vast stretch - that its army had to be 
organized under three heads — Madras, Bengal and Bombay — as ours would 
be divided into a Porto Rican, a Cuban and a Philippine army. In Porto 
Rico a native army would be a simple affair. The inhabitants of that little 
island are peace-loving and indifferent to revolutions, and would be easily 
moulded by good officers into a satisfactory and reliable body of rural 
guards. Firmness, tempered with kindness and justice, would be the chief 
factor of success. Cuba would be more difficult. The Cubans have had 
experience in fighting as members of the Cuban army, and their phenome- 
nal success through happy-go-lucky methods has given them a high idea of 
their abilities as soldiers, and, therefore, they will not be so amenable to dis- 
cipline, probably, and will not accept without question and grumbling a 
new system of tactics so entirely at variance with their own. 

. The Filipinos present such a difficult problem that it is hard to prophecy 
what success will come from our efforts to form a native force. The three 
principal tribes, scattered over the twelve hundred islands, are the Tagals, 
Visayans and Igorrotes, each totally different and sworn enemies for genera- 
tions. Eess promising material out of which to form good troops would be 
difficult to imagine at a first glance, but their very faults might, under wise 
administration, be transformed into soldierly qualities. 

Their bravery, amounting to cruelty and ferocity under Spanish influ- 
ence, might be developed into the courage of civilized nations, and the 
fatalism of their Asiatic neighbors, the Mohammedans, which seems to have 
a place in their character, with its doctrine of " What is to be will be," 
necessarily makes them indifferent to death. They are essentially crafty, 
but that is their misfortune rather than their fault, due to Spain's policy of 
suppression and oppression. 

An eminent authority on the native troops of India has said that, with- 
out English officers, they are of little value, and the metaphor suggested by 
Sir Colin Campbell and quoted by Dr. Russell in speaking of the general 
relation of the European to the native soldier of India, would seem as appli- 
cable to this opinion as to the Filipinos and to ourselves. " Take a bamboo 
17 



258 



THE FILIPINO INSURRECTION. 



and cast it against a tree, the shaft will rebound and fall harmless ; tip it 
with steel and it becomes a spear which will pierce deep and kill. The 
bamboo is the Asiatic and the steel point is the European." 

One lesson learned from the terrible Sepoy mutiny seems to be that it is 
better to make cavalry and infantry out of native troops who cannot be 

trusted implicitly than to give into their hands unlimited 
° Natives' ^ ar tiUery. Before 1857 the native Indian army had 248 

field guns and 348,000 troops, as against 38,000 European 
troops, with 276 guns. At the present time the proportion is quite different. 
The European troops are strong in artillery and the .natives strong in infantry 
and cavalry. In artillery, the English have 12,306 men and 370 guns, against 
the natives with 896 men and 36 guns ; while the native infantry is over 
twice as large and the cavalry four times as large as the European cavalry 
and infantry. 

In the Philippines, cavalry would hardly be worth considering, the con- 
ditions of the country being such that horses are a hindrance rather than a 
help. Eight artillery and Gatling guns will be the only part of the 
artillery arm used for the present. The native troops of India were made to 
use the musket to a certain extent, though they remained armed in the 
fashion of the country, as a general rule, with sword and lance. Probably 
the Filipinos would be given rifles, though of an inferior make to those 
used by the American army — Springfields, presumably. 

Most of the natives of the Philippines know the use of a musket, but 
their tactics are so totally different from ours that it would be necessary for 
them to go through a process of unlearning before they could be taught our 
methods. The question of uniform would be more easily solved than any 
other, as it is the one thing in which we could follow Spain's example. 
Her colonial uniform was inexpensive, and suited to the climate, being made 
of a material light in quality, though sufficiently dark in color to keep some 
semblance of cleanliness. The English colonial uniform is the khaki worn 
by our troops in the late war, but the Spanish uniform seems cooler, lighter 
and cleaner. 

England can again help us in the question of feeding a native army, for 
the Sepoys live on rice, which is the great food product in India as well as in 
the Philippines, although in the latter the supply does not always equal the 
demand. Sweet potatoes and ground nuts, and occasionally peas and 
potatoes, are also grown in the islands, and even wheat in the higher 
regions. From these simple elements we will form an inexpensive and 
satisfactory ration, meat not figuring to any extent. 



THE FILIPINO INSURRECTION. 



259 



The project of forming the natives of our new islands into a force to 
garrison them seems so reasonable and feasible that it is sure to succeed with 
the genius of America behind it, and a half century of European experience 
as a valuable lesson. We can profit enormously from Great Britain's mistakes 
in India and the most important and never-to-be-forgotten lesson of the Sepoy 
rebellion — that native troops should be officered by Americans, and the 
American and native troops amalgamated with our regular soldiers in such a 
manner that the horrible experience of 1857 can never be duplicated. 

Our task is less complicated than England's in one great respect — that 
of the absence of caste in the inhabitants of Cuba, Porto Rico or the Philip- 
pines. Some of the most direct causes of the Indian mutiny came from the 
terror on the part of the Hindoos that their caste prejudices were to be 
interfered with. Possibly some time will elapse in the Philippines before 
the inhabitants will consent to enlist under our flag, but in Cuba and Porto 
Rico — especially in the latter — the plan seems simple enough, and the 
advantages manifold. 

Great care should be taken, however, in the selection of recruits. They 
should be chosen not so much on account of their size and appearance as for 
their intelligence and promise, careful attention being given to their past 
records as far as possible. At first the native army in India was recruited 
only from the high-caste Hindoos and Mohammedans, and as soon as the 
lines were relaxed and men of lower castes and classes were allowed to 
come in, the entire army deteriorated. 

According to a plan already outlined by the military authorities, the 
recruiting will be done at Manila, and each man's record will be carefully 
examined, so that no brigands or murderers get in. At 
first only a fourth of a company will be natives and three- ^^^^^^"^ 
fourths American regulars. After a while the bulk of the 
company will be natives, except the captain, two lieutenants, ten sergeants 
and fifteen corporals. By attention to duty a native will be able to become 
a non-commissioned officer. 

The Philippines are a vast domain, and an intelligent man might spend 
a lifetime in studying them. The population of the Philippines is roughly 
estimated at. 8,000,000. There are more than eighty distinct tribes of 
natives, each with its own very marked peculiarities. The number of 
islands is estimated at 1,200. Hundreds of these are practically unexplored 
by white men. There is no regular communication with them. 

The islands extend from 4 deg. 45 min. to 21 deg. north latitude. 
They are wholly within the tropics. The mean annual temperature at 
Manila is 80 deg. Fahrenheit. There is no month of the year in which it 



2UO 



THE FILIPINO INSURRECTION. 



does not rise above 91 degrees. Malaria is very prevalent in some of the 
islands, notably in Mindoro, Balabac and portions of Palawan, Mindanao and 
Luzon ; but there are many localities entirely free from it. 

Malaria and bowel complaints are the most serious diseases for Ameri- 
cans in the Philippines. Smallpox is always prevalent in the islands, but 
as nearly all the natives have it in childhood there is no 
, ?I° r !T. a .V. 0rl . Ab0Ut material for an epidemic. Cholera is infrequent, but when 

the Philippines. r ^ n 

it has broken out has never been checked. Leprosy occurs, 
but is not common. There is a great deal of beri-beri in Balabac and Min- 
doro. 

The civilized natives are nominally Roman Catholics. The Franciscan, 
Dominican, Austin and Recoleto friars own nearly all the cultivated land on 
the islands. 

Manila, a city of 150,000 inhabitants and capital of the Island of Luzon, 
is celebrated for its earthquakes. In that of 1863, 400 people were killed, 
2,000 wounded, and forty-six public buildings and 1,100 private houses 
destroyed. Other great earthquakes occurred in 1610, 1645, 1658, 1675, 
1699, 1796, 1852 and 1880. In 1645, 6°° people were killed. On account 
of the earthquakes, houses are not built more than two stories high. 
Galvanized iron 'is in great demand for roofs. Glass is not employed to 
any extent in windows, its place being taken by little squares of translucent 
oyster shell. 

Iloilo, the second largest city of the islands and capital of Panay, has 
just been taken by our troops. The gunboat "Petrel" hoisted our flag 
without hindrance on the important Island of Cebu, in the Visayas group 
and the Island of Negros has sent in its submission. 

The following is a list of the larger islands, with their areas in square 
miles : 



Luzon . . 7 . . 41,000 

Mindanao 37, 500 

Samar 5 ,300 

Panay 4,600 

Palawan 4, 150 

Mindoro 4,040 



Leyte . 3,090 

Negros 2,300 

Cebu . . . 1,650 

Masbate 1,315 

Bohol 925 

Cantanduanes 450 



The total land area is approximately 114,000 square miles. 

There are some fine active volcanoes in the islands. One is Mayon, in 
Luzon, 8,900 feet high. Apo, in Mindanao, is 10,312 feet high. 

The Philippic is are peculiarly rich in what Mr. Kipling would call 
" the sullen, new-caught peoples, half devil and half child." 



THE FILIPINO INSURRECTION. 



261 



Of the eighty different tribes which compose the population the most 
peculiar are the Negritos. They are believed to be the aboriginal inhabitants 
of the Philippines and are the lowest of existing human beings. They are 
links between ordinary men and apes. They cannot count above five, do 
not build dwellings, and have only a semi-articulate speech. They practice 
little agriculture and live on fruits and roots, and on game which they bring 
down with their poisoned arrows. In appearance they are not unlike apes. 
They are a wretched, sickly race, of dwarfish stature, with thin limbs and 
protruding stomachs. Their skin is black and their hair curly. They linger 
only in certain barren or inaccessible parts. There are a few Negritos on 
Mariveles Mountain, near the mouth of Manila Bay, and in the vicinity of 
Cape Engano they are quite numerous. 

Some of the remaining Philippine wild tribes are of pure Malay 
extraction, and others are apparently halfbreed races between Malays and 
Negritos. The Igorrotes, without clothes and armed only with bows and 
arrows, were conspicuous figures in the recent fighting with American 
soldiers. The word " Igorrote," which was originally the name of a single 
tribe, was extended to include all the head-hunting people in Luzon and 
later came to mean any wild tribe. 

Head hunting is practiced by dozens out of the eighty Philippine tribes. 
The Gadannes practice head hunting only in the season when the fire tree is 
in bloom. It is said to be impossible for a young man of 
this tribe to find a bride until he has at least one head to *f ~ ""uT 

ana cannibals. 

his credit. Among other head-hunting tribes may be 

mentioned the Altasanes and Apsayaos. Not all of the wild tribes, however, 

are cannibals or head hunters. The Tinguianes of Luzon are amiable and 

peaceful. 

The civilized Philippine natives number five millions. They belong 
chiefly to three tribes, the Tagals, Ilocanos and Visayans. Professor Wor= 
cester, the leading American authority on the Philippines, has a favorable 
opinion of the civilized natives. The professor says : 

" The civilized Filipino certainly has many good qualities to offset his 
bad traits. The traveler cannot fail to be impressed by his open-handed and 
cheerful hospitality. He will go to any amount of trouble and no little 
expense in order to accommodate some perfect stranger who has not the 
slightest claims to him. If cleanliness be next to godliness, he certainly has 
much to recommend him. Every village has its bath, if there is any chance 
for one, and men, women and children patronize it liberally." 

The fiercest people in all the Philippine Islands are the Moros, who 
inhabit the Sulu Islands. These islands form a separate group to the south 



262 



THE FILIPINO INSURRECTION. 



of the Philippines, but the United States has gathered them in along with the 
rest. The Sulus are cannibals, head hunters and unqualified terrors. They 
are Mohammedans and are ruled by a collection of Sultans. A recent 
Spanish Governor proposed to collect taxes. The Sultan of Sulu, with other 
chiefs, waited on the Governor to pay the taxes. The Sultan held a bag of 
pearls in his left hand. With his right he drew a sword and split the Gov- 
ernor's skull from the crown to the backbone. 

The Moro gentleman will cut a slave in two merely to try the edge of a 
new knife. The Moros beleive that one who takes the life of a Christain 
thereby increases his chance of happiness hereafter. To be killed while 
fighting Christians means immediate transportation to the seventh heaven. 
From time to time it happens that a Moro becomes tired of life. Desir- 
ing to take the shortest route to heaven, he bathes in a sacred spring, shaves 
off his eyebrows, dresses in white, presents himself before 
Astonishing Customs p anc [ita and takes solemn oath to die killing Christians. 

of the Natives. r . & 

He then hides a kns or barong about his person and 
seeks the nearest town. There he runs amuck, slaying every living being 
in his path until he is himself killed. 

The Tagbuanas, of Palawan, are a curious half-breed race between the 
Negritos and Malays. These people catch fish by throwing a poison called 
macasla into shallow water. It causes the fish to rise to the surface, where 
they are then taken. 

The pitcher plant, which eats insects, grows in the Philippines. Bats 
that live on fruit are eaten by the natives and much liked. There are enor- 
mous pythons in some of the islands. Dr. Worcester mentions killing one 
twenty-six feet long in Palawan Island. Cobras and other venomous snakes 
are common. Crocodiles cause considerable loss of life in Mindanao. There 
are no large carnivorous animals, such as tigers, on the islands. The Philip- 
pine house cats have a curious crook in the ends of their tails. Mosquitos 
and other insects are, of course, common. Pests of locusts occur every 
year. Fried locusts and a certain kind of water beetle are esteemed a 
delicacy by the natives. 

The soil of the Philippines is amazingly fertile. Year after year crops 
are taken from the same ground without any thought of fertilizing. The 
most important products are sugar, abaca, or manila hemp, tobacco, rice, 
coffee, maize, cacao, yams, cocoanuts and bananas. Among edible fruits 
are the malodorous durian, which is very nutritious, mangoes, papaws, 
oranges, lemons, limes, citrons, shaddocks, jack fruit, bread fruit, custard 
apples, lanzones, tamarinds and laichees. 

Gold exists in paying quantities in I/uzon and Mindanao, and there are 
vast quantities of iron and other minerals. 



STORIES OF OFFICERS OF CERVERA'S SQUADRON. 263 

STORIES OF OFFICERS OF CERVERA'S SQUADRON. 



Reports of the Spaniards How Their Vessels were Beaten by Schley's 

Warships. 

By Casper F. Goodrich, 

{Commander of the Auxiliary Cruiser "St. Louis.") 

AFTER the destruction of Cervera's squadron by Rear- Admiral Schley's warships, 
July 3, the surviving officers and men surrendered and were sent to Portsmouth, as 
prisoners of war, on the auxiliary cruiser " St. Louis." During the trip north the 
^ Spanish officers talked freely with Captain Goodrich of their tragic experiences, and 
these interesting descriptions, made in frequent interviews, the captain reduced to 
writing, which are herewith contributed, as follows: 

I learned from Admiral Cervera that during his stay in Santiago he 
had received several telegrams from Madrid to leave port. On the second 
of July came the final message : " Leave port at once, no matter what the 
consequences, and engage fleet. ' ' This order was, as may be seen, imperative. 
Preparations were begun with a view to making the attempt during the fol- 
lowing night, but for some reason the American battleships did not play 
their searchlights on the entrance that night as usual, and the wreck of the 
"Merrimac " could not be seen. As this hulk was at the turning point in 
the channel, it became almost impossible to go out. Admiral Cervera there- 
fore decided to make the sortie early the following morning, after the 
American ships had withdrawn from their night blockading stations, and 
when they were, generally speaking, more scattered than at any other time 
of the day. 

About seven o'clock on the following morning a signal was sent from 
the signal station near the Morro, that only the " Brooklyn " and the 
" Texas " were to the west of the entrance, and that the 
rest of the American fleet were scattered to the east. The the s P a " ,sh 

Snips Left the 

squadron got under way at once and proceeded down the Harbor, 
bay with the flagship, the "Maria Teresa," in the lead. 
She -was followed by the " Almirante Oquendo," " Vizcaya," " Cristobal 
Colon," and the torpedo-boat destroyers " Pluton " and " Furor," in the order 
named. The wharves and docks at Santiago were crowded with people who 
had come down to see the ships off, and cheer after cheer arose as the pride 
of Spain's navy bravely sallied forth to meet a vastly superior enemy. 

As only one ship could pass through the narrow entrance at a time, a 
definite battle formation was out of the question. The orders issued by 



264 STORIES OF OFFICERS OF CERVERA'S SQUADRON. 



Admiral Cervera to the captains of his ships, therefore, were to proceed at 
full speed to the westward after clearing the entrance, and to concentrate 
their fire upon the " Brooklyn." He hoped to disable the " Brooklyn," 
which he considered the only ship that could overtake his vessels ; then to 
escape to the westward, raise the blockade of Havana and take refuge in the 
harbor. 

The leading vessel, the " Maria Teresa," passed the Morro about half- 
past nine o'clock, followed by the rest of the fleet in column. The details 
of the battle on board the " Maria Teresa " were told by Lieutenant Gomez, 
of the admiral's staff, as follows : 

"After clearing the harbor we headed to the westward along the shore. 
We fired the first shot of the battle, aiming at the ( Brooklyn,' then about 
three miles away. The ' Texas,' * Iowa ' and 4 Brooklyn ' returned our 
fire, but their first shots fell short. As the distance between the ships de- 
creased, the shells commenced to strike us and did great damage. First a 
shell exploded in the admiral's cabin, setting fire to the woodwork there. A 
signal was sent to the engine room to start the pumps, but 
Terrible Results ^ e £ re ma i ns l la( j been ruptured by an exploding shell, 

of the 

American Guns. so tnat no water could be got to the fire. Another shell 
struck the main steam pipe, disabling the port engine, and 
the escaping steam killed every man in that compartment. One exploding 
shell killed or wounded eighty of our men. Our fire was directed principally 
against the ' Brooklyn.' The fire in the after part of the ship had driven 
the crews away from the after guns, and the rapid-fire guns of the American 
ships were playing havoc with our men and riddling the upper works of the 
ship. Having one engine disabled and the whole after part of the ship on 
fire, the vessel was headed toward the shore in search of a suitable place for 
beaching. The captain said to the admiral : 

"'My ship is in flames, my engines are disabled, my men have been 
driven from the guns and are being killed; ought I not for humanity's sake 
to surrender ? ' 

" The admiral answered, 1 It will be useless to fight longer.' 

" The flag was hauled down and the ship run on the beach. The . cap- 
tain was struck and severely wounded just as the flag was being lowered. The 
fire was now raging aft so that there was great danger of the magazine being 
blown up at any minute. The admiral and those of the officers and crew 
still alive took to the water, the risk of drowning being preferable to the 
certainty of being burned or blown up. Many reached the shore, but some 
were drowned. Admiral Cervera stripped to his underclothes and plunged 
into the water. Two of the sailors secured topes to a grating, and taking 



STORIES OF OFFICERS OF CERVERA'S SQUADRON. 265 



the other end of the ropes in their mouths swam to the shore towing the 
grating, the admiral bearing part of his weight on it. The admiral's son ? 
one of his staff, swam along behind his father and assisted as best he could. 
Had it not been for this assistance Admiral Cervera would undoubtedly have 
been drowned, as he is a very poor swimmer. While the men were in the 
water the Cubans on shore commenced firing at them until the ' Iowa ' put 
a stop to that atrocity by throwing a shell among them and scattering them." 

Captain Eulate, of the " Vizcaya," speaking of the battle, said : 
" When the order to leave port was given we all realized that we were going 
out to meet disaster, and that we were being sacrificed on the altar of Span- 
ish honor. My officers and men fought like true Spaniards to the end, but it 
was useless. I was fighting four ships, any one of which was superior to 
my own. My poor ' Vizcaya,' she was a splendid ship, but now she is only 
a wreck. I have lost everything except honor." Continuing he said : " When 
the c Maria Teresa ' headed for shore I passed her, and I had the 1 Brooklyn,' 
' Texas,' ' Iowa ' and ( Oregon ' all firing at me. The firing from these 
ships was terrific; shells were bursting all around us. My ship was set on 
fire by a shell exploding in my cabin. My engines and pumps were dis- 
abled, and I could not fight the flames. My men were being killed and 
wounded in large numbers. A shell finally exploded in my forward magazines 
and I was forced to head for the shore. When Iwent into action, I had flying 
at my masthead a large embroidered silk flag, which had been made and pre- 
sented to the ship by ladies of the province of Vizcaya. When I saw that* 
my ship would be lost, I had this flag hauled down and burned, and hoisted 
another ensign in its place. My flag was shot away twice during the en- 
gagement, the last time just as the ship grounded. The boats of the 'Iowa ' 
picked up those of my officers and men still left alive, carrying them to that 
ship. When I went on board the ' Iowa,' I took off my sword and tendered 
it to Captain Evans, but he refused it, saying that I had fought four ships 
and that I could keep my sword. That was the proudest moment of my 
life." 

^ The captain of the " Oquendo " committed suicide 

and the second and third officers were killed during: the Suicide of 

L*. r « 1 • • • c 1 tne "Oquendo's" 

engagement. The following description is from the pay- Captain, 
master of the " Oquendo : " 

" When we came out of the harbor we were fired on by the ' Iowa,' 
'Texas' and 'Oregon.' Our fire was mostly directed against the 'Texas,' 
for we had seen the splendid shooting done by her in the attacks on the 
batteries. From the first the firing was terrific and great damage was done. 
The after part of the ship was set on fire by bursting shell and could not be 
put out. Finally, fearing that the magazines would explode and everyone 



266 STORIES OF OFFICERS OF CERVERA'S SQUADRON. 



be lost, the ship was beached and the flag lowered. The mortality on the 
ship was great, over half of the crew being killed and wounded." 

Captain Moreu of the " Cristobal Colon " by far the ablest officer in 
the fleet gave an account of his ship. He did not open fire at first, but 
moved inside the other vessels. When the " Vizcaya " headed for the shore, 
he passed her and then opened fire on the " Oregon," " Brooklyn " and 
"Texas," which ships had taken up the chase. He ran to the westward 
close to the shore. The heavy guns intended for this ship had never been 
mounted, and when asked where they were, the captain shrugged his shoul- 
ders and said : " Perhaps in the pocket of the Minister of Marine." Finally, 
when about fifty miles from Santiago, he was headed off by the " Oregon," 
and the " Brooklyn " and " Texas " were both closing in on him. He saw 
that it was useless to continue, and so beached his ship and hauled down his 
flag at i. 20 p. m. There was no serious damage done to this vessel, and but 
one man killed and sixteen wounded. All the officers and crew were taken 
off and put on board the " Resolute." 

Lieutenant Diego Carlier, in command of the destroyer " Furor," and 
Lieutenant Piedro Vasquez, in command of the " Pluton," tell the same 
short story. They were literally riddled by the rapid-fire guns of the 
" Oregon," " Iowa" and " Texas." Their boilers were struck and exploded, 
one after the other, in rapid succession. A large shell struck the " Furor " 
almost amidship and exploded, nearly tearing her in two. She sank almost 
immediately. The steering gear on the u Pluton " was shot away, and she 
ran into shoal water and sank. These vessels each carried seventy-two men. 
But twenty-two were saved from the " Pluton " and but seventeen from the 
" Furor." Among the killed being Rear-Admiral Villamil. The officers all 
expressed themselves as amazed at the rapidity and accuracy of the fire 
of the American ships. 

Admiral Cervera sent me this letter after his arrival at Portsmouth : 

Captain Caspar F. Goodrich, U. S. M. S. "St. Louis''': 

My Dear Sir:— I have the greatest pleasure in acknowledging by these presents, in my 
own name and also in that of all captains and officers on board this ship, that we consider 
ourselves under the greatest obligation to you for the many kindnesses 
A Courteous Letter and excellent treatment which you and all the officers under your com- 

of Thanks. man d have shown to us during this passage. I must also mention the 

careful and most valuable medical assistance which has been given to our 
wounded and sick men. Your kind feelings went as far in this respect as to order them to be 
put in one of the saloons of the ship in order to provide more effectually for their comfort. I 
know nothing which does not agree with what I have just written, the case of D. Enrique 
Capriles being wholly unknown to me, since neither you nor he has spoken to me about it. I 
thank you again for the delicate and manifold acts of kindness by which you have endeavored 
to alleviate the sore burden of our great misfortune. I assure you that I shall never forget 
them, and I am, sir, your most obedient servant, Pascuei* Cervera, 

Rmr Admiral. 



GLORIOUS STRUGGLE OF OUR ARMY BEFORE SANTIAGO. 207 



Following is the list of the officers of the Spanish fleet who were 
brought to the United States by the " St. Eouis:" Rear Admiral Pascuel 
Cervera, Commodore Jose Paredez, Captain Antonio Eulate, of the " Viz« 
cay a," and Emilio Diaz Moreu, of the " Cristobal Colon ; " Commanders 
MacCrohon, Adolfo, Contreas and Manuel Roldan ; Captains of Marines 
Frederich Baleato and Eugenio Espinoza y Leon ; Lieutenants, first class, 
Diego Carlier, Xavier Ouiroga, Piedro Vasquez, Pablo Marina, Enrique 
Capriles, and Carlos Gonzales Llanos ; Chief Engineer Juan Cuenca ; Lieu- 
tenants Cerman Suanzes, Antonio Magaz, Fernando Lengo, F. Bruquetas, 
and Jose Maria Pazos, A. C. 



GLORIOUS STRUGGLE OF OUR ARMY BEFORE 

SANTIAGO. 

Storming Through Jungle Up the Hill That Led to San Juan. 

By Jamks Crkelman. 

THE battle of Santiago, which was fought between the American 
troops and the Spaniards on Friday, July 1, reflected credit upon 
both armies — upon the Americans because they stormed trenches 
that should have been impregnable, and upon the Spaniards 
because, with inferior numbers, they made a stubborn and desperate resist- 
ance, proving their boast that when engaged with an army fighting after the 
European fashion they would render a good account of themselves. That 
they showed themselves to be a match for American soldiers is not to be 
admitted for a moment, however. A generous foe can say no more of them 
than that they knew how to die. General Hawkins, being asked after the 
battle whether American troops could be driven from such intreuchments as 
those in which the Spaniards fought, answered with an emphatic " No! " 

Between Siboney on the coast, the base of operations, and Santiago, lay, 
a little to the north of a line drawn between the two, the fortified village of 
Caney. It was judged necessary to reduce this place lest the enemy should 
threaten our rear. The nominal garrison of Caney was 800. General 
Shafter sent Lawton's division, the Second, of 6,000 men, against Caney, 
while Kent's, the First, and Wheeler's cavalry division were to proceed up 
the valley road and attack San Juan Hill, on which were the main land 
defences of Santiago. Lawton's division, having reduced Caney, was to 
co-operate with Kent and Wheeler at San Juan. It was believed that Caney 



268 GLORIOUS STRUGGLE OF OUR ARMY BEFORE SANTIAGO. 



would soon fall before a brisk assault, but it stood off Law ton's division, 
assisted by Capron's battery of four guns, all day. Caney may be dismissed 
for the present while a description of the movement on San Juan is^ 
attempted. 

The battle in this part of the field was opened by Captain Grimes' 

battery, which was posted on a hill above El Pozo ranch house, a dismantled 

building with a tiled roof and a rusted bell. General 

Gnmes Battery j^gp^ Wheeler's cavalry division, consisting of the Third, 
Opens the Fight. J r J ' & 7 

Sixth and Ninth, under General Samuel S. Sumner, and 

the First, Tenth and First Volunteers (Rough Riders), under Colonel 

Leonard Wood, General Young being disabled by illness, was distributed 

through the woods on the hill and outside the range of the enemy's expected 

fire, as well as could be judged. The morning was hot with a tropical 

intensity, the cocoanut palms of the valley being wreathed in vapors, while 

the sky was copper blue. At twenty minutes to 7, " Aim ! Fire ! " said 

Captain Grimes in tones clear and firm. Grimes has the air and spectacles 

of a college professor, and his face is severe but kindly. " Bang ! " went the 

black tube, and everybody on the hill strained his eyesight at the house on 

San Juan, which was really a farmhouse and not a blockhouse, to see what 

damage would be done. Everybody was disappointed, including Captain 

Grimes, who tried again, with the same result. Several shots were fired 

before some one looking through a field glass announced that a hole had 

been knocked through the roof of the house. As a matter of fact, our 

battery was throwing solid shot and shrapnel on the crest of the hill to find 

the enemy, and not to demolish the innocent-looking farm building on top 

of it. 

In the bright sunshine the exercises of our guns were spectacular and 
exhilarating. War might be hell to the other fellows, but it was pleasant 

enough to us and worth a good price for a front seat. 
^for^over" 1 Occasionally the boom of Capron's guns came to the ear 

from the right, and smoke rose to mark his position. In 
the middle valley was the spacious Ducrot house, looking cool and stately 
with its guardian palms. Bounding the valley paradise on the north, abruptly 
rose to a great height a verdant range of peaks. Scanning the floor of the 
valley sailed the buzzard waiting for the carnage. Grimes' guns had boomed 
ten times, and there was a pleased and interested look in every eye and a 
smile on many lips, when there came a muffled report from San Juan, and 
soon a peculiar singing, long-drawn-out hiss cut the air and the spectators 
forgot the marksmanship of Grimes' guns in a hasty hunt for cover. The 
Spaniards were replying with shrapnel from a 5-inch gun. Their shell came 



GLORIOUS STRUGGLE OF OUR ARMY BEFORE SANTIAGO. 269 



over the brow of the hill and burst into a hundred fragments like a rocket. 
It was a good line shot, but high. Officers hurried their men to right and 
left and made them lie down in the bushes. Nobody ever learns to listen to 
the music of shrapnel with longing, for the thought of being torn to pieces 
is abiding. But Grimes' voice was as clarion-like as ever, and it was 
comforting to hear the little man say " Aim ! Fire ! " as steady as a clock. 

Meanwhile, amid the din of guns and the cruel hiss of Spanish shells, 
the dog mascots of the regiments ran about in the tall grass and pushed 
aside the bushes with wagging tail and sparkling eye, while the birds in 
their leafy bowers sang on. Prostrate men in the brush, to whom the passing 
of the hissing shell was a procession of warnings of sudden death, tried to 
get interested in the slipping of lizards up and down decayed stumps, but 
afterward they could not remember the color of the lizards. Suddenly the 
Spanish fire ceased, but Grimes continued to say " Aim ! Fire ! " and it was 
remarkable how indifferent everybody was to the effect of American shells 
on Spanish nerves. 

Our guns fired ten rounds after the Spaniards stopped, and it was said 
that we had knocked one of their pieces off its carriage.. Two of our 
artillerymen had been killed and three sergeants and a corporal of the 
battery wounded. Several troopers of the Rough Riders had been hit, and a 
corporal of the Third Cavalry had a bad leg wound. In a dip under the hill 
twelve Cubans had been torn by the shrapnel. 

Strung out on the valley road to the right and east of El Pozo, Kent's 

division was lying and awaiting the signal to advance. Two reasons 

have been suggested for the cessation of firing by our 

battery. One is that we could not afford to draw the ... Wh c the F xr ? ^ 
J ., . Was Suspended. 

Spanish fire in the direction of advancing infantry, and 

the other that the Spaniards, having our range perfectly, were knocking over 
too many of our gunners. The first reason is sufficient. Smokeless powder 
was used by the Spaniards, and we had no means of knowing whether they 
had sustained any damage. Wheeler's dismounted cavalrymen were ordered 
off the hill and to the front, and Kent's infantry to support them. His 
division was brigaded as follows : Sixth, Sixteenth and Seventy-first (New 
York Volunteers), General Hawkins; Second, Tenth and Twenty-first, 
Colonel Pearson ; Ninth, Thirteenth and Twenty-fourth, Colonel Wikoff. 

As our men advanced they were .met by cross-fires poured from wooded 
eminences on both flanks, which could not be seen from the road or even by 
the skirmish lines. Every little mound, every inch of country was known 
to the enemy. They knew where our troops must be deploying and where a 
volley fired by them would strike with effect. When the Americans had to 



270 GLORIOUS STRUGGLE OF OUR ARMY BEFORE SANTIAGO. 

cross a clearing it seemed as if the Spanish rear was concentrating all its fire 

upon our marching and dodging men. Credit must therefore be given the 

Spaniards for knowing and availing themselves of what may be termed the 

casualty value of the country through which their foe was advancing. 

The Americans, on the other hand, were in a continuous ambush while 

pushing on toward San Juan- Where the volleys came from and why the 

bullets reached them in such showers they could not 

We Were in realize, and do not know to this day. It was like being 
Continuous i 1 . . 

Ambush. shot at in the dark and yet seeing men falling like tenpins. 

Is it remarkable that in such a deadly labyrinth commands 
got mixed up, orders went astray, and one regiment found itself ahead of 
another; that at El Pozo had been in the van ? 

The division had been feeling its way along for two hours when the 
word was passed along to halt, and there seems to be an impression that it 
was the intention to go into camp on the plain below San Juan and within 
range of the Spanish batteries and even of the trenches. There were really 
only two things to do, to retire or to storm the trenches. A retreat would 
have demoralized the army and postponed the taking of Santiago indefinitely. 
An advance was ordered again in a short time and the troops went doggedly 
on, driving the Spaniards back and into their trenches. At last the foot of 
San Juan was reached and the emergency developed the indispensable hero. 
He was Brigadier-General Hawkins, a tall, well-knit old man, with white 
mustache and pointed, short beard. With him were the Sixth and Sixteenth 
Infantry. The other regiment of his brigade, the Seventy-first New York 
Volunteers, was not yet up. This fine old soldier rode out in front of his 
regulars and, drawing his sword, pointed to the hill and called upon them in 
ringing tones to follow him. 

Then he turned and set his face to the enemy, who had marked him for 
slaughter and were volleying viciously. The Sixth and Sixteenth dashed 

forward with a cheer in which the old rebel yell could be 
the Trenches distinguished. Withering was the fire on them, and men 

reeled and dropped down in their tracks. There was 
straggling, as there always is in a charge up a slope, but the body of men 
moved on and up and would not be denied. Volley after volley was blazed 
at them until the trenches yawned and the Spaniards in them could be 
individually seen. Our men fired as they ran forward — fired at Spanish 
faces, peering and strained. In another moment it was all over, for the 
enemy scrambled out of the trenches and ran without a look behind. 
Gallant old General Hawkins did not get a scratch, but his losses were 
heavy. Lieutenant Garry Ord, son of the distinguished general of that name, 



GLORIOUS STRUGGLE OF OUR ARMY BEFORE SANTIAGO. 271 



and a lieutenant of the Sixth, had been killed by a wounded Spaniard after 

he had bidden his men to spare the fellow, and Lieutenant Michie of the 

same regiment had fallen, too. Before the end of the day the Sixth lost one 

hundred in killed and wounded, and the casualties of the Sixteenth were also 

serious. To General Hawkins belongs the honor of taking the key of the 

position and the heart out of the Spaniards. 

The fortunes of the Signal Corps' war balloon must here be touched on. 

Early in the day it was sent up with Colonel George M. Derby and Major 

J. H. Maxfield in the car, and it kept pace with the advance 

of the division, to the embarrassment and indignation of The W !f r Balloon 
... . . a Target. 

the men, who say that it indicated their line of march and 

drew the Spanish fire. The balloon, at any rate, soon became a target for 
the enemy's gunners, riflemen and sharpshooters, and bullets and shrapnel 
flew thick around it. Twenty times it was pierced, and the occupants gave 
themselves up for lost. The great bag was brought down, however, to the 
bed of the creek, and there abandoned for the time. Later a detail of twenty 
men was sent to drag it from the water, but they had to retire under heavy 
fire. In the end the remains of it were saved. 

At 3.50 occurred the second thrilling episode of the day. Under the 
brow of the main hill a council of war had been held, a further advance 
being the subject of it. The majority opinion seemed to 
be that it would cause too great a loss of life, and was not Fs " al Char e e Led 

& ' by Roosevelt. 

to be thought of. Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, of the 
First Volunteer Cavalry (Rough Riders), argued that the only way to take 
the top of the hill, which was marked by the two houses previously men- 
tioned, was to rush it. " I will lead the way if you will let me," he said. 
There was no answer, and, judging that silence gave consent, Roosevelt 
sprang to the front and shouted to those immediately near to follow him. 
There is some conflict of opinion as to who fell in behind in that reckless 
charge up the hill. Colonel Roosevelt believes that his command alone 
answered his call, but others say that two companies of the Seventy-first and 
a company of the Twenty-fourth (colored) also ran for the summit. On 
the way Colonel Roosevelt shot down a Spaniard in his path. There is no 
disposition to detract from the achievement of the Rough Riders, but the 
evidence is that others joined them in the charge. Captain Paget, of the 
British Navy, who saw it through his glasses from El Pozo hill, was amazed 
and delighted, and his tribute to the intrepidity of the American soldier 
could not have been warmer than it was. He voiced the opinion of every 
English correspondent on the field. Phil Robinson vied with Paget in his 
admiration. Before the mad rush of Roosevelt and his men the Spaniards 



272 GLORIOUS STRUGGLE OF OUR ARMY BEFORE SANTIAGO. 



fell back to the next hill. There they hung. Roosevelt, delirious with the 
excitement of battle, called for another charge. Five men responded and 
three of them were at once shot down. He ran back and 

" ^Lcaid^ Sa ^ * n ^ S nervous wa Y : " I didn't think you would refuse 
to follow where I led." " We'll follow you," was the shout, 
they swarmed along after him and the hill was taken. 

Soon after four o'clock Best's battery was withdrawn, and it rumbled into 
a place of safety. The Spanish fire had been too hot for it. All the after- 
noon the opposing lines had been volleying at each other without a moment's 
cessation. Such unintermittent firing had seldom, if ever, been heard. It 
was terrific, and the memory of it will always remain with those whose ears 
ached^with it. Imagine an exploding string of giant fire-crackers miles 
and miles long, and you get some idea of it. At 4.45 the banging, 
crackling and sputtering ceased, and a stillness fell on the valley which was 
like the end of all things. 

Before reverting to the work laid out for Lawton's division on the right 
it should be mentioned that Grimes' battery on Bl Pozo hill and the Spanish 
guns back of San Juan had a second duel, but a briefer one than the first. 
Neither battery did much damage. 

Lawton's orders were to take Caney, a small town defended by a stone 
fort and a blockhouse on a hill above it. After reducing the place he was 
to march on Santiago. 14: is no secret that General 
T *at Carney"* Lawton expected to dispose of Caney at one blow. Gen- 
eral Chaffee, an officer who had been in a way a rival of 
Lawton, was to have the honor of capturing Caney, and Lav/ton was to get 
his share of the laurels in an attack on Santiago. He may have indulged 
the hope of reaching the Spanish defences ahead of Kent and driving the 
enemy back on the city. However that may be, both Lawton and Chaffee 
thought Caney would be a rotten nut to crack. The start was made at 
dawn, and report says the march was made as rapidly and quickly as possible 
to prevent a hasty exit of the Spaniards from Caney, for there would have 
been no glory in capturing an evacuated town. The Spaniards, as it turned 
out, had no notion of running away. Estimates differ as to how many 
Spaniards there were in the place. The enemy says 600, the Cubans 1,000, 
and American- army officers put the garrison at 1,500 to 2,000. Whatever 
the number, it fought to the death for nine hours and held Lawton at a time 
when he might have been useful before Santiago. The Spaniards did not 
come out to give us battle ; they fought mainly in trenches surrounding the 
fort and blockhouse and in those buildings. From a hill 2,375 yards from 
the stone fort Captain Capron, father of the young officer of the Rough 



GLORIOUS STRUGGLE OF OUR ARMY BEFORE SANTIAGO. 273 



Riders who was killed at Guasimas, opened the attack with a shell fired at 
6.35 a. m. at a body of Spaniards who were falling back to the trenches. 
One of his early shots went through the roof of the stone fort. The infantry 
was thus distributed : Chaffee's brigade of the Seventh, Twelfth and Seven- 
teenth Regiments advanced on Caney from the east. Colonel Miles' brigade 
of the First, Fourth and Twenty-fifth was to attack from the south, and 
Ludlow's, consisting of the Second Massachusetts Volunteers and the Eighth, 
and Twenty-second Regulars, was sent round to make an 

approach from the southwest. General Chaffee rode up ^° So " 1cth,n s for 
11 .... Your Country. 

and down behind his firing line encouraging his men. 

" Now, boys, do something for your country to-day," he frequently said. 
Chaffee did not think the Spaniards would hold out very long. Ludlow's 
men made slow but steady progress through a tract of woods, running from 
bush to bush and shooting at a Spaniard whenever they could see one. 

- The Second Massachusetts Volunteers of this command behaved 
splendidly, exposing themselves freely and displaying fine marksmanship. 
Miles' brigade had to make up a good deal of ground to get well into the 
fight, but it came up in time to take its share of the assault, when the 
Second Massachusetts and the Twenty-second Regulars were lying in the 
road for a breathing spell. The Fourth and Twenty-fifth of Miles' brigade 
were fairly fresh, and they moved up on the blockhouse northwest of the 
town. 

Meanwhile the Spaniards, shooting from their trenches and from loop- 
holes, kept up a galling fire upon our men wherever they showed. They 
fired a tremendous amount of ammunition, but without 
taking very good aim. They seemed to think that the The ^as^ad A ' m 
Americans could be driven back by a continuous fusillade, 
whether they suffered much damage or not. Company G and half of Com- 
pany C of the Twenty-fifth Infantry (colored), led by Lieutenant Moss of 
bicycle fame, had the honor of storming and taking, in two rushes, the 
blockhouse. Many Spaniards in it were killed, and the survivors made a 
rush for the stone fort in Caney under a hot fire. A company of the Twelfth 
Infantry, which I accompanied, was in the advance and ran up and took pos- 
session of the stone fort after Capron's shells had made a wreck of it and all 
but three of its defenders had been killed. These, bespattered with blood 
and exhausted from the tremendous strain of their defence; were glad to sur- 
render. The Spanish flag was hauled down, and the American colors went 
up and floated out bravely. I was struck in the shoulder by a ball that came 
through a loophole, but my wound while painful, was not serious. 

18 



274 GLORIOUS STRUGGLE OF OUR ARMY BEFORE SANTIAGO. 



During July i Brigadier-General Duffield, in command of the Thirty- 
third Michigan Volunteers, a battalion of the Thirty-fourth Michigan, and 
about 2,000 Cubans, had not been idle. His orders were 
Duffield s Fight tQ move a ] OI1 or the little railroad on the coast and make a 
on the Left. & ^ 

femt on Aguadores, a fortified town at the mouth of the 

San Juan River, two miles and a half from Morro Castle. At Aguadores 
was a garrison of 4,000 Spanish troops, and Duffield, with the aid of the 
" New York " and the little " Suwanee," was to engage them and prevent 
the dispatch of a ay reinforcements to the Spanish army before Santiago. 
Our war vessels bombarded the Aguadores fort during the morning, but did 
little damage to it beyond knocking down the flagpole. The Spaniards 
selected Duffield's advancing force as their target. The first shell fired by 
them killed seventeen Cubans on the hill above the railroad. Another shot 
mowed down two files of fours in the Thirty-third Michigan, killing two 
men and wounding the others. A third shell burst in the 

Terrible Destruction Q n ^ an contingent and killed six more. Duffield fired 
of a Spanish Shell. & 

several volleys into the fort and the engagement ended 

there, the Spatiiards making no effort to co-operate with the intrenched army 
on San Juan. 

The Cubans with Kent did no fighting, or perhaps it would be correct 
to say they had no fighting to do. Lawton was to have had the assistance 
of several thousand Cubans, but the solemn truth is they kept well out of 
danger and fired all their ammunition harmlessly into the air, afterward 
sending for more. 

On the night after the fierce fighting on San Juan our soldiers dug 
trenches on the ridges they had captured, working without food or rest until 
dawn, when the Spaniards were observed to be in an inner line of intrench - 
ments about 600 yards nearer Santiago, which was a mile and a quarter 
distant from the indomitable fringe of Americans. Generals Wheeler and 
Kent had pitched their headquarters tents in a hollow under the ridge, where 
they could give orders and transact business without being interrupted by 
frying bullets. But even in that apparently secure place a shot from a sharp- 
shooter in the woods on the plain was sometimes heard some time after the 
battle had ceased. 



THE 1 TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICA. 



275 



THE TWENTIETH CENTURY AMERICA. 

THE America which the closing days of the nineteenth century see is 
strikingly different in area and influence from that which the 
opening years of the century saw. A hundred years before the 
Spanish-American peace treaty was signed in Paris on December 
10, 1898, the United States occupied a comparatively small spot on the 
earth's surface. It was surrounded on three sides by powerful and unfriendly 
nations. As at present, its northern boundary was Canada. Its western line 
was the Mississippi River and its southern border was Florida. At that time 
Florida comprised not only the present State of that name, but also a strip 
of territory extending westward to the Mississippi River, along the southern 
line of the present States of Mississippi and Alabama. Florida, throughout 
its entire length, from the Atlantic to the Mississippi, belonged to Spain, 
and Spain held the whole of the territory of that river. 

Thus England was on the United States northern border, as at present, 
while Spain shut it off from the Gulf of Mexico and from the vast empire 
west of the Mississippi. The American who, a hundred years ago, w T ent 
down to St. Augustine, Pensacola, Mobile or New Orleans, found himself in 
Spanish territory. The American who crossed over to St. Louis, or any 
other point on the western side of the Mississippi, would also find himself 
under the Spanish flag. Even Natchez was held by Spain, contrary to the 
treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States signed in 1783, 
until 1798. In the latter year Spain moved her boundary line a short dis- 
tance below that city. Moreover, England held Oswego, Niagara, Detroit, 
Mackinac and other points in the United States on the northern frontier 
until after the Jay treaty was signed in 1796, and then it was exceedingly 
slow in evacuating those posts. The United States a hundred years ago had 
no rights which any of the great nations felt bound to respect. 

The imperial dimensions of the United States to-day make a striking 
contrast to its comparative diminutiveness a hundred years ago. By 
the successive acquisitions of Louisiana in 1803, Florida 
in 1819, Texas in 1845, New Mexico and California in The ^* ^Q^*° n 
1848, and Alaska in 1867, the area of the United States at National Domain, 
the beginning of 1898 was, approximately, 3,603,000 
square miles. Then came the annexation of Hawaii, with 6,640 square miles 
and 110,000 population ; Porto Rico, 3,670 square miles and 810,000 people ; 
and the Philippines and the islands which come to us with that group, 
115,000 square miles and 10,000,000 population. With these acquisitions 



276 



MUST DIE FOR THE FLAG. 



there were made in 1898 additions of 125,310 square miles to our area and 
10,920,000 to our inhabitants. 

The United States had an area of 828,000 square miles and a population 
of about five millions at the beginning of the nineteenth century. It will 
start out in the twentieth century with an area of 3,770,000 square miles 
and a population of 90,000,000. Only the British, the Russian and the 
Chinese empires cover a larger space on the world's map than the United 
States. Excluding colonies, China alone, of all the world's nations, exceeds 
the United States in dimensions and inhabitants. 

The domain of the United States at the end of 1898 passes through all 
the zones from the frigid to the torrid. It sweeps from a point far to the 
north of the Arctic Circle to a point far to the south of the Tropic of Cancer 
and extends almost down to the Equator. The resident of Alaska sees the 
North Star up near his zenith. The inhabitant of the Philippines catches 
glimpses of the Southern Cross. The person who travels westward from 
the eastern verge of the United States of to-day to its western boundary line 
will make a circuit of almost half the globe. Except for a few days in mid- 
winter, the sun is shining on some part of the United States through every 
hour of the twenty-four. 



MUST DIE FOR THE FLAG. 

Only Hope of Salvation For One Man Who Fought at Manila. 

By an Old Comrade. 

This is the story of a man who fought against bis country twice, and is now fighting /or 
it in the Philippines. 

I am glad there was one more fight. Unless he was in the hospital it 
has given one man an opportunity to feel that he has done something 
for his country. You will not expect me tell you his name, and under 
the circumstances I must not even mention his command. When I 
first knew him he was a boy, scarcely more than seventeen years old. His 
father, a slave owner in Missouri, was a Southern sympathizer and afterward a 
Southern soldier. He was one of Shelby's men, and was wounded in a 
skirmish. He was popular in the army, and, unlike most of our men, he 
always had plenty of money. After he was wounded he employed a nurse 
and insisted upon following his men until Shelby positively forbade it. 
Then his son was sent for, and he undertook to take his father home. The 



MUST DIE FOR THE El^AG. 



277 



State swarmed with soldiers of both armies. The journey to the home of 
the wounded man in Calloway County was tedious. The father and son and 
nurse were halted a few hours before the journey was finished. The 
wounded man declined a summons to surrender and several shots were 
exchanged. The excitement caused the death of the wounded man. The 
man in command of the Union cavalry permitted the son to take the dead 
body home. The wife of the Southern soldier did not know his fate until 
she saw his body on an improvised stretcher, being carried up the lane 
leading to her house. The shock killed her. The daughter of the house, 
two years the senior of her brother, lost her reason at the dual burial, and in 
less than a year she died. 

The son and brother gave the remaining slaves their freedom, and as 
soon as he could he joined Shelby, who was then in Texas. The South was 
whipped, then. But a few skirmishes were fought, and in every one of them 
that boy acted like a fiend. He went with us to Mexico. He returned with 
those who came back, and I don't mind telling you now that he became a 
black flag follower until that, too, at last trailed in the dust. 

Once, and only once, he went to his old house. He found it destroyed. 
The ruins were overgrown, and he employed a stranger to show him the 
graves of his father, mother and sister. The property had 
been confiscated, and later sold for unpaid taxes. The ^ * he 11 Gr . a . v ^ s of 

' r AM He Held Dear. 

boy, then a man, said he did not want to regain the home- 
stead, if he could. He spoke an oath which few men, I reckon, ever spoke 
in this country. In the hearing of a lawyer who told me about it, he raised 
his right hand and said : 

" I don't want to own anything in such a country as this." 

He went away. His history from that time until the spring of 1898 is 
a mystery to me. He came to my house the day after the news of the loss 
of the " Maine," and we talked over the situation in Cuba. He was as 
immobile as he always was. I said that I was sorry I had but one arm ; that 
I would like to go once more to war. I said that I would like to fight for 
my country united. He looked at me as a man looks when he is at enmity 
with the world and its Creator, and for a moment he lost his old control. As 
he was leaving he said to me : 

"Jim, I'm glad you've but one arm, 'cause we might meet. I am going 

to Cuba to join the Spaniards. I am not even with this country 

yet." 

I cannot explain to you the feeling his talk stirred within me. I had 
fought against the country once, but I can truthfully say I never cursed it. 
And he was the first man I ever did hear curse it, and I knew how earnest 



278 



MUST DIK FOR THE FLAG. 



he was. Still I tried to reason him out of his determination. I knew it 
was useless, but I could not have him go without an effort to dissuade him. 
That was the last I saw of him until the soldiers began coming back from 
Cuba last summer. 

I was in San Francisco when the transports were loading with soldiers 
and munitions for Manila. I could give you the date and the name of the 
transport and the command, but it wouldn't do. Two days before the sail- 
ing I was at the camp where a lot of Western boys were waiting for the word 
to leave. I knew some of them. When I was leaving one followed me, 
and when we were alone he asked, "Jim, do you know me?" 

Well, never mind how I came to recognize him. I went home with 
him and stayed all night. He told me the story of his part in the war in 
Cuba. It was terrible. Several times I asked him to stop talking. One 
thing he told me I can never forget. 

"Jim," he said, "whenever I did anything I shut my eyes. But I 
always cursed. But somehow it seemed as if I was pursued. Nowhere 
could I get an hour, not a minute of rest. I was getting revenge, but at 
what a price !" 

Then he told me how he quit the Spanish, and how he went into a 
camp of our soldiers as a cook, and then to the hospital as a nurse. And 
then he came back, enlisted and sailed for Manila. I see that his regiment 
covered itself with glory. I know he was there if he could stand. He said 
to me as I told him good-bye: 

"Jim, my only hope of salvation is to die for the flag I have cursed." 

I have not seen his name among the killed or wounded, so I can have 
no doubt he is still fighting for the flag that he expressed a hope to die for. 



J? 




the; occupation of havana. 



279 



THE OCCUPATION OF HAVANA. 



Impressive Ceremonies Attending the Transfer of the Cuban Capital 

to the American Army, 

~T T"NDER the terms of the protocol of August 12, and the peace treaty 
of December 10, 1898, Spanish sovereignty should cease in Cuba, 
Porto Rico and the Philippines, and by particular agreement made 
with the American evacuation commissioners December 27, Spain 
should lower her flag from Morro Castle, and from the governor-general's 
palace, Havana, and surrender the city to the representative of the American 
Government, the date of which transfer being fixed for January 1, 1899. 
The .ceremonies attending this important event were very impressive, 
although slightly marred by acts of Spanish hauteur, which, however, are 
almost pardonable when the awful humiliation involved is considered. 

Captain-General Castellanos failed to make good his promise to meet 
the moment with fortitude, for after the general program of surrender had 
been agreed to, the Spaniards violated their promise by lowering the crimson 
and gold flag that floated above the palace two hours before the time fixed, 
and disappearing with it. As noon approached it was learned that no other 
flag had been provided and when Major Butler protested he was met with 
shrugs that meant everything or nothing. Then as the Spanish and Ameri- 
can officers gathered in the reception room of the palace for the final cere- 
monies, it was seen that while the Americans were in full dress uniforms 
the Spanish wore fatigue uniforms without side arms. However, they 
suffered in comparison for their lack of courtesy. The Americans, physically 
giants anyway, led by Brooke, who towered above Castellanos as an oak over 
a weeping willow, had their stature increased by their toggery. Had it not 
been for their discourteous conduct the Spaniards would have had general 
sympathy instead of what approached contempt. 

After the ceremony General Castellanos, instead of bidding his friends 
good-bye, led an immediate and tearful procession to the water front, where 
he took a launch for the steamer " Ribat, 1 ' vowing he 
would never again set foot on Cuban soil. A Sorrowful 

& < Procession. 

In spite of these incidents the ceremony was impressive 
and one never to be forgotten by those who saw it. A cordon of United 
States troops of the Tenth Infantry kept all without passes two blocks from 
the palace, in front of which six companies were marched. Drawn up along 



28o 



THE OCCUPATION OF HAVANA. 



directly in front of the palace and facing the American soldiers were two 
companies of the Leon battalion, with Colonel RafFael Salamanca in 
command. 

Just at half-past eleven o'clock Major-Generals Wade and Butler, with 
their staffs, rode down Obispo street, and as they wheeled into the palace 
plaza the Eighth Infantry band with Jacob Haeft, who is six feet and six 
inches tall, as drum major, struck up the Royal March of Cadiz in which the 
Spanish bugle corps joined. Next to arrive were Major-Generals Brooke 
and Eudlow and staffs in carriages. As they stepped to the street " The 
Stars and Stripes Forever" was played. Next to arrive were Generals 
Chaffee, Humphreys, Davis and Keifer, who were honored with a fanfare 
from the Spanish trumpeters. 

Perhaps the most dramatic incident of the morning and of more moment 

was the arrival of the Cuban generals, Rodriguez, Menocal, Vidal, Eacret, 

Cardenas, Agramonte, Medarse, Valiente and Jose Gomez. 

A Dramatic ^ e Americans had been saluted by the Spanish officers 
Incident. J r 

as they arrived and greeted by Spanish trumpets. The 

Cubans received no salute. No blare of trumpets announced their appear- 
ance. From the Americans, however, they received every courtesy and the 
Second Illinois band played in their honor a medley which sounded much 
like the Cuban national hymn. East to arrive was Major-General Fitzhugh 
Eee with his staff and guard, making a most imposing appearance as they 
encircled the palace. 

By this time it was approaching the hour of noon. General Brooke had 
sent word to Major Butler not to insist upon having the Spanish flag raised. 
Generals Brooke and Wade led the procession up the wide but broken marble 
steps running from the central court of the palace to the reception room on 
the second floor. Following them were Generals Butler, Eee, Eudlow, 
Humphreys, Chaffee, Davis and Keifer, and then the staff officers and the 
invited guests. 

General Castellanos advanced and shook hands coldly with Generals 
Brooke and Wade. The Spaniards were gathered in small groups at the 
south end of the room, General Castellanos being supported by his two sons 
and aides and Colonels Girauti, Benitez and Galvez, with a few others of 
lesser rank. The Americans made an imposing group at the north of the 
room. After their positions had been taken General Eacret marched into the 
room with his associates of the insurgent army. They were given a position 
of vantage at right angles to others and half facing them. Behind the 
American generals stood Acting British Consul Jerome, who has represented 
the United States in Havana. With the Spaniards stood French Consul 



THK OCCUPATION OF HAVANA. 



281 



Martin. He was the only one in the group in full dress uniform. It was 
noted, as places were taken, that Marquis de Montero, a member of the 
Spanish Evacuation Commission, was absent. 

Promptly as the big clock in the palace struck the first note of the 
twelfth hour came the thunder of cannon from Cabanas across the harbor. 
Three distinct echoes followed, so that the second gun sounded before the 
first had ceased to reverberate. A Spanish bugle sounded a note in the court- 
way below, and Captain-General Castellanos, pale to sallowness, advanced, 
meeting General Wade in the centre of the room. 

There was a moment of hushed expectancy and all listened for the 
strangest words ever pronounced within those grim walls that had known 
Spanish power and glory and were now to know Spanish humiliation. While 
his conduct had been petty f< >r a man in his position, there is no doubt that 
General Castellanos felt deeply. For a moment he was absolutely unable to 
proceed. Tears rolled down his stern old face, anal when he spoke his voice 
was broken with emotion. He spoke in Spanish and beautifully, as follows: 

GKNIXEMEN : — In compliance with the Treaty of Paris, the agreement of the military 
commissioners of the island and the orders of my king, at this moment of noon, January 1, 
1899, there ceases in Cuba Spanish sovereignty and begins that of the United States. In con- 
clusion, I declare you in command of the island, with the object that you may exercise it, 
declaring to you that I will be the first in respecting it. Peace having been established between 
our respective governments, I promise you to give all due respect to the United States Govern- 
ment, and I hope that the good relations already existing between our armies will continue until 
the termination of the evacuation of those under my orders in this territory. 

At the conclusion of his speech Captain Hart, attached to the American 
Commission, advanced, and, taking from General Castellanos a roll of manu- 
script, translated that which the Spanish captain-general had just said. 
Captain Hart is almost as large a man as General Brooke, and he presented a 
heroic figure acting as thi instrument through which the transfer of 
sovereignty was made. He was pale, too, but his voice was unbroken, and 
as he read every one within the room heard his voice. 

At the conclusion of Captain Hart's reading, General Wade turned to 
General Brooke and in a dignified manner announced as beautifully as pos- 
sible that the command of the American forces in Cuba henceforward rested 
with him. General Brooke spoke feelingly, Captain Hart translating, accept- 
ing the responsibility and expressing the good will of the American govern- 
ment and the people for Spain. 

In the meantime a signal had been given and Major Butler raised the 
Stars and Stripes over the palace, which ceased at that moment to represent 
Spanish power and oppression. As the flag floated in the breeze two bands 



282 



THE OCCUPATION OF HAVANA. 



stationed in the plaza played the " Star Spangled Banner," while the troops 
presented arms in salute. From thousands of throats a song of welcome 
came and whether it was heartfelt or not, which the future only can tell, it 
was certainly long and loud. 

Thunders of salutes from the harbor still continued to roll over the city, 
and from every available staff the American flag was unfolded to receive the 
plaudits of the people, who, during the morning had remained within doors, 
but who were now pouring into the streets literally in thousands. 

General Castellanos had informed the Americans that he would be 
happy to receive anyone who might come to pay his respects, but at the last 
moment his heart failed him. As the simple ceremonies 

General Castellanos l d ^ officers fell to the right and left, opening a 
Bowed with Grief. & ' 1 & 

passage to the throne room, a .ong which Castellanos and 

his aides passed. Immediately strapping on their side arms they filed solemnly 
down to the plaza, which they crossed, accompanied by General Clous and 
Captain Hart, to the harbor front, where they took launches for the steam- 
ship " Ribat," which latter took General Castellanos to Matanzas. 

As they departed the American troops all stood at attention. No voice 
was raised in exultation, the grief of the conquered being respected. As the 
party approached the water front a woman appeared upon the balcony of a 
building, shook out the Spanish flag, and in shrill tones cried "Viva Espana." 

General Castellanos and his aides halted, saluted their flag, and with 
tear-broken voices gave three feeble " Vivas." As they entered their, launch 
they were sobbing as though broken-hearted. General Castellanos' last words 
after bidding good-bye to General Clous were that he should never again set 
foot on Cuban soil, but should live while at Matanzas and Cienfuegos on 
board the " Ribat." 

After the withdrawal of the Spanish officials General Lacret made a 
brief speech in which he pledged the loyalty of the Cuban troops and people 
in giving every assistance to the American forces in establishing in Cuba a 
free and independent government. General Brooke responded, evading the 
delicate reference to Cuban independence. 

u I have been sent by my government," he said, " to establish in Cuba 
that order which has been unknown in the island for years. To do this it 
is necessary that I shall have your support. In you I 
^R^uestfor' 9 P* ace tbe g reatest trust. From you I expect extraordinary 
Co-operation. assistance. From the people I expect co-operation." 

As the Cuban generals withdrew, representatives of 
the Ayuntamiento were presented to General Brooke, who signified his 
desire that they should act in full accord with the American plans as made 



THE OCCUPATION OF HAVANA. 283 

public by him. The faculty of the university appeared in full gowns and 
pledged their heartiest support to the new order of affairs. General Brooke 
thanked them and expressed a desire that their work should proceed with- 
out interruption. 

The most spectacular incident within the palace was when the bom- 
baras, Havana's firemen, dressed in full uniform, crowded in the reception 
room unexpectedly and gave three rousing cheers for " Los Americanos ! " 
They captured General Brooke's heart and the genial old general shook 
hands all round with them. 

A hurried inspection of the palace was made, showing that the Span- 
iards before their departure had stripped the rooms of everything save the 
broken lot of furniture. The pictures had been taken from the walls with the 
exception of a portrait of Spain's boy king, which still graces the walls of 
the throne room. Early in the afternoon Captain Mott placed a guard 
about the palace, closing it to the public. 

General Lacret, who acted as spokesman for the Cuban officers, assured 
the United States Military Governor that everything in the power of the 
Cuban military officials would be done to help the Americans to restore Cuba 
to a condition of peace and prosperity. This speech was translated by 
Captain Page, of Virginia. 

It was scarcely half-past twelve o'clock when General Brooke and his 
staff left the palace for the Hotel Inglaterra. Commodore Cromwell and 
Captains Sigsbee, Berry, Cowles and Foss, of the United States, squadron, 
arrived a few minutes after, too late to pay their respects. The only woman 
who witnessed the scene in the salon was Mrs. John Adams Fair, of Boston, 
who was ushered into the palace by mistake. When she was about to retire 
Colonel Gelpi, the captain-general's chief of staff, begged her to remain. All 
the other ladies were assigned places in the balcony of the barracks over- 
looking the plaza. 

The parade of the United States troops showed the feeling of the Cuban 
element of the population. The march was from El Vedado, along the 
Achia Del Norte, the Prado and Central Park to Cerro and 
Quemados. About every fourth house displayed some dec- Amcrican Troops 
oration, a palm branch, a bit of red, white and blue bunting 
or a flag. There was no general expression of public rejoicing, though Major- 
General Lee, who rode at the head of the column on a gray charger, received 
a personal ovation along nearly the entire route. Major-General Brooke, 
Major-General Ludlow and the other generals reviewed the corps, standing 
on a bench in front of the Hotel Inglaterra and surrounded by their staffs. 



# 



284 



THE OCCUPATION OF HAVANA. 



Every man in the last company of the One Hundred and Sixty-first 
Indiana infantry, as he entered Central Park, drew from under his uniform a 
small Cuban flag and waved it. The Cubans went nearly wild with cheers 
and excitement, and General Lee sent Lieutenant-Colonel Curtis Guild, Jr., to 
order the Indianians to put away the flags, which they did. It was reported 
that the entire company was under arrest. General Lee turned in after the 
column passed, the crowd pressing close around his horse, shaking his hand 
and making other demonstrations of affectionate interest. His orderly was 
heavily burdened with flowers for the general. 

When Lieutenant Lee, son of General Lee, with Lieutenant Jones and 
Lieutenant-Colonel Livermore, of the army ; Ensign Webster, Boatswain 
Hill and Gunner Applegate, of the cruiser " Brooklyn," representing the 
navy, entered Cabanas, they found no Spanish flag flying 
Cabanas uf Salute ^ rom ^ e sta] ^ an ^ the halyards were tangled. Two sailors 
from the "Brooklyn" rove off new halyards, and Lieu- 
tenant Lee requested the Spanish officer in charge, Lieutenant Cache, to 
hoist the Spanish flag, that the Americans might salute it. Lieutenant 
Cache was about to do this when the governor of the fortress said it would 
be unnecessary. Then, on a signal from the " Brooklyn, the sailors fired 
twenty-one guns at Cabanas, after which Lieutenant Lee, who was in full 
dress, hoisted the Stars and Stripes, the Spaniards firing twenty-one guns in 
salute, and Lieutenant-Colonel Cavestany handing the keys of the fortress 
and an inventory of its contents to the American officer. 

At Morro Castle, Lieutenant Wade, son of General Wade, raised the 
Stars and Stripes, and Quartermaster-Sergeant Mersoig hauled down the 
Spanish flag amid cheers. About noon a Cuban produced a spectacular 
effect by letting loose a big Cuban flag from a kite string high over Morro 
Castle, where it flew all the afternoon. The United States Military Commis- 
sioners cabled to President McKinley at 12.30, and in reply General Wade, 

president of the commission, received the following- : 
President McKin- r & 
ley's Message. I congratulate the commission upon the successful termination of its 

mission, and the peaceful occupation of Cuba by the United States. 

Wiwjam McKinxey. 

General Castellanos was escorted to the wharf by Generals Clous and 
Chaffee. As he stepped into his launch he wept. Crowds of Spaniards, men 
and women, all dressed in black, gathered upon the sea wall and silently 
watched the fleet pass out. There was not a shout, not a handkerchief 
waved. Men and women wept together. 



GALLANT CAPTAIN 1,EARY. 



285 



GALLANT CAPTAIN LEARY. 



How He Defended the Flag and Defended American Interests 

at Samoa. 

CAPTAIN RICHARD P. L,EARY has been appointed by President 
McKinley governor of the island of Guam of the L,adrone group 
and departed for his far-off post of duty on the auxiliary cruiser 
"Yosemite," February 1, 1899. 
Guam is the principal island of the Ladrones, which were formally 
under the general government of the Philippines. There is but one town in 
all the I^adrones, San Ignacio de Agaua, and that is situated on Guam. The 
population of the L,adrones only amounts to about ten thousand souls. It 
consists of descendants from the original inhabitants, called by the Spaniards 
Chammorros ; of Tagal settlers from the Philippines, and of a mixed race 
formed by the union of Spaniards and Chammorros. 

Captain Leary is well known in navy circles as a brave and efficient 
officer and a man of remarkable executive ability. He hails from Maryland, 
and entered the Naval Academy in i860. During the civil war he was 
attached to the blockading squadron off Charleston. During the Spanish 
war it was again his fate to be engaged in blockading duties, and he was 
placed in command of the " San Francisco," Commodore Howell's flagship. 
Previous to his command of the " San Francisco " he was the commander of 
the ram " Katahdin." In 1888 Captain I^eary was in command of the 
" Adams " at Samoa during those troublous times, and performed a deed there 
that deserves to live in song and story. 

History repeats itself even in Samoa, and the same cause was behind 
the troubles in 1887-88 as is behind them to-day — the desire of Germany to 
bring about German control. Samoa in 1888 

Malietoa Laupepa, who had been recognized as King 
of all ,Samoa by an agreement between Germany, Great Britain and the 
United States in 1881, was deported from Samoa by a German warship in 
1887, on a flimsy pretext of having insulted the German Government. 
Tamasese, a rebel, was set up in his stead. A civil war then broke out 
between Tamasese and Mataafa, the chief of the loyalist party and a relative 
of the exiled king. 

While this war was raging, in 1888, there were but two foreign war- 
ships in Samoan waters — the " Adler," a German vessel and the u Adams," 



286 



GALLANT CAPTAIN LEARY. 



a small and obsolete man-of-war, commanded by Captain Leary, then bearing 
the rank of commander. The " Adler " was by far the more powerful ship, 
but the strength of the United States Navy has never been in the superiority 
of her ships, only in the superiority of the officers and of the men behind 
the guns. 

The two captains had several interchanges of courtesy. On one occasion 
the " Adler " steamed past the American ship, and at her foremast was a 
native chief, bound with stout cord to the mast. The 
Messages'^ German saluted as he passed, but no answer came back 
from the American ship. Soon the German came to a 
standstill and a boat was dispatched to ascertain why the American had not 
answered the salute. Upon this, Captain Leary sent back to the Teuton this 
characteristic reply : " The United States does not salute vessels engaged in 
the slave carrying trade." 

Soon afterward Captain Leary again had occasion to pay his respects to 
the captain of the " Adler." While the war was raging between Tamasese 
and Mataafa, the German captain made his war vessel a sort of tow boat for 
Tamesese's war canoes, and trained his guns upon villages occupied only by 
women and children. Many villages were entirely destroyed. Captain 
Leary sent this just, if incisive, remonstrance to the " Adler's " captain : 
u Such action, especially after the Tamasese party had been represented as a 
strong government not needing the armed support of a foreign power, 
appears to be a violation of the principles of international law, as well as a 
violation of the generally recognized laws of humanity." Still another vigo- 
rous protest was sent later when the : crew of the " Adler " fired upon a 
canoe filled with unarmed natives. But Captain Leary did more than 
protest ; he performed a gallant action, which has been but little com- 
mented upon, and which has never received the recognition that it deserves. 

On the evening of November 14, 1888, a messenger came to Captain 
Leary from Mataafa with the information that the German warship was, in 
the dawn of the following day, going to bombard a strong- 
LCa the U Fiag ,dS ^old wmcn Mataafa had established on land under Ameri- 
can protection. That night Captain Leary quietly got 
steam up without attracting the German's attention, and had his anchor 
chains muffled. All hands were called to quarters before dawn. At daybreak 
the " Adler's " anchors came up, and she made for the threatened fort. 
Silently the anchors of the " Adams " came up also, and to the amazement 
of the German the Yankee craft put after him with a full head of steam, 
and darted in between him and the shore. Captain Leary cleared his ship 
for action and the German followed suit. A shot from either ship would 



GAU,ANT CAPTAIN I,EARY. 



287 



now have precipitated war between the two nations. When opposite the 
threatened fort the German dropped his anchors, and the Yankee did like- 
wise, taking care to get between the "Adler" and the shore. Captain 
L,eary then sent this note to the German captain : 

u I have the honor to inform you that, having received information that 
American property in the Latogo vicinity of L,aulii, Lotoanun and Solo Solo 
is liable to be invaded this day, I am here for the purpose of protecting the 
same." 

The crews on the two ships stood at their guns for hours, but the 
German captain made no attempt to fife upon the fort. Finally he started 
on a cruise down the coast, but Captain L,eary followed him and would not 
be shaken off. The two ships came at length into harbor again, and the 
American had gained his point of preventing the German from firing upon 
the fort. Captain L,eary upheld the honor of his country's flag at a time 
when our government seemed to take but a half-hearted interest in Samoan 
affairs. He was far from cable communications, and on his own responsi- 
bility thus bravely defied and held in check a warship far superior to his 
own. For his brave and determined stand Captain I^eary received the 
thanks of the Legislature of Maryland, his native State, but the government 
took no action in the matter. 




288 OUR DEWEY, AS VIEWED BY AN ENGXJSH OFFICER. 



OUR DEWEY, AS VIEWED BY AN ENGLISH OFFICER 



A Man to be Ranked with the Greatest in War, and the 
Best in Peace* 

By Captain Edward Fraskr, 

{0/ Her Majesty- 's Imperial Forces.") 

IN the first week of our arrival at Manila, on the "Empress of India," 
I was introduced to Admiral Dewey by the British Consul, and had the 
honor of dining with him on board the " Olympia " at the customary 
Saturday evening banquet. 
It was a unique affair. Admiral Dewey occupied the seat of honor, 
but, despite his efforts at cheerfulness, he appeared to be like a man on whom 
a deadly lethargy had fallen. His face was ashen and his skin seemed to be 
drawn over it like wrinkled parchment. His hair was white as snow, and 
was thin and straggling, particularly over the forehead. As he nervously 
handled his wineglass, the contents of which, I noticed, he scarcely touched, 
I could not help observing that his hand was thin and claw-like, the skin 
presenting the same unhealthy appearance as that upon the face. 

An officer sitting next to me said that the admiral had changed terribly 
in a few brief months and had lost nearly twenty pounds in weight. This 
same officer said that Dewey was about sixty years old. 
Effects of Work j thought I was looking at a man past threescore and ten. 

and Anxiety on ~ r . - . , . - <• . • 

the Admiral. ™ course, when I saw him then it was after a fatiguing 
day's work in a broiling sun, and this may have accounted 
for his almost entire lack of energy and apparent indifference to the gay scene 
around him. 

An officer on the right of the admiral, whose name I forget, took the 
part of chairman, and the usual toasts were right merrily made. The ban- 
quet broke up at an early hour, and we all, including the admiral, retired to 
the smoking-room. It was while in this room that I had my chat with the 
great naval officer. 

He asked me a few questions about myself, and I hazarded some ques- 
tions in return as to his health, the prospects of the close of the war, and 
its ultimate result. He said that his health was none too robust, but that 



OUR DEWEY, AS VIEWED BY AN ENGLISH OFFICER. 289 



when at work he scarcely noticed his indisposition. Climatic influences, he 
observed, were against his noble boys. " It makes my heart bleed," he said, 
" when I see my men dying like dogs while waiting for some decisive action 
which I am sure will end this war as we would wish." This was during the 
period of uncertainty at Washington. When I intimated, as delicately as I 
could, that possibly it would not be unwise on his part to take a rest for a 
month or two in some less dangerous climate, he replied almost roughly : 

" Tut, tut, Captain ; my work is not finished here yet. It's at a stage 
when I believe 110 other man can handle it. If I thought otherwise I should 
perhaps feel prompted to take a rest." 

What Admiral Dewey told me in private conversation in regard to the 
prospects of a close of the war I do not feel justified in divulging. 

For a few brief minutes he talked animatedly on military life in India 
as I had experienced it, but collapsed like a man of straw just before the 
time of breaking up. A respectful, and, it seemed to me, 
almost pitying: silence fell on the long room as he slowly Worn Dowf1 » bu * 
a u'aa* 11 «. a • , i . U1 ! Will Not Ask for 

rose, and, bidding all a courteous and quiet good-night, left Vacation. 

accompanied by his aide. Turning to an officer — -I believe 
he was Lieutenant Smithson, of San Francisco — I remarked on the admiral's 
enfeebled condition. He said, " Yes, we have all noticed it, more particu- 
larly during the past month. Some of the boys say he never sleeps, and I 
verily believe it. I hope to God that the war will soon end, or that it will, 
at least, -get in such shape as to permit Admiral Dewey to take a rest. In 
his resting moments he appears to me like a man not long for this world." 

During my stay at Manila, I learned much about this remarkable man, 
whose never-ceasing activity is a marvel even to officers who have been with 
him for years. I was told that he rose with the sun, and after a cold bath, 
waded through piles of correspondence with his secretary. This strain was 
usually kept up till 8 a. m., when he took a light breakfast. At 9 a. m. he 
usually held an hour's consultation with his chief officers, and then came 
the terrible strain of the day. The " Olympia's " largest steam launch 
was ordered out, and, accompanied by a few officers, his tour of the fleet and 
harbor was made under the then broiling rays of the sun. This tour gener- 
ally lasted till noon, when the return was made to the flagship for lunch. A 
rest of two hours followed, although the officers say the admiral never 
availed himself of this, but worked over plans in his private cabin. At 2.30 
his first visit was made to the shore, where unceasing work followed until 
dusk. Sometimes the admiral was induced to take a hand at whist, when his 
return to the ship was made in the evening, but latterly he refused to join 
even in this recreation, and generally closeted himself with his priva>.t 
15 



2 9 o OUR DEWEY, AS VIEWED BY AN ENGLISH OFFICER. 



secretary until late at night. Six hours' hard work in a tropical climate is 
considered a good day's work. I was told on the best authority that Admi- 
ral Dewey works sixteen hours a day; during the anticipated trouble with 
Germany he never slept for two days and two nights. Everything, I was 
told, down to the minutest detail that went on in the fleet, was personally 
supervised by Admiral Dewey. In the first big battle his foresight was 
simply marvelous. His thoroughness has resulted in wonderful success. 
As a naval strategist I, as a military man, can only class him with time- 
honored heroes like Nelson and Drake. 

Dewey exercises a wonderful influence over every one with whom he 
comes in contact. He is fairly worshiped by the army and navy alike, and 
his appearance on shore always gives rise to an ovation. 

I believe that Admiral Dewey can thank his exceeding temperate habits 
for the fact that he is now alive. He smokes very little, drinks hardly 
anything and eats sparingly, his diet being chiefly fruits. 

Extremely j n manner h e appeared to me quiet, unassuming and 
Courteous Manners ™ .... . . , . 

of the Admiral. always courteous. The terrible strain imposed on him 

makes him appear absorbed, but that he is not without 

humor may be judged from several anecdotes I heard in regard to him. 

About the end of January he was shown a copy of the Manila Times with 

the following extract translated from the Republica Filipino. : " A splendid 

demonstration of the Cavite women, without distinction of class or age, 

unanimously requested with enthusiasm to be permitted to take the place of 

the men if the men perish in the struggle against the Americans for the 

defence of the independence of the Philippines. They say that, irrespective 

of the weakness of their sex, love of their country will make them strong 

and will animate them to keen combat against the Americans." 

Admiral Dewey laughed heartily when he read it and exclaimed to the 
officers around him : " Boys, I will have to send all the single men on the 
fleet ashore to marry these women or we are undone." Then, turning to 
the chief officer of the " Olympia," " Kindly call for volunteers." 

Shortly after it was announced that Hobson would join the forces at 
Manila, the boast previously mentioned was made that the Cavite women 
would fight with the insurgents against the Americans. After reading the 
communication Admiral Dewey handed it to one of his officers, with the dry 
remark, " You won't have to leave here yet awhile ; we'll put Hobson on 
shore duty at Cavite." 

Admiral Dewey, I was told, has been very kind to newspaper men. A 
fresh young reporter on the Manila Times insisted on an interview with him 
in regard to the reported threatened attack by Aguinaldo. The admiral 



AN INTERRUPTED BATH. 



was very busy and returned the interviewer's card. " Must see you or I'll 
lose my job," came back the reply on a card. " Confound the man for his 
persistency," said Dewey, but granted the scribe a two-minute interview. 

On the occasion of one of the skirmishes, the soldiers in Manila who 
wished to get to the outskirts forcibly impressed carriages on the streets to 
get there speedily. The matter was reported to Admiral Dewey. He 
thought a short time, then said : " Most of the boys must have been educated 
to cab driving. I don't care to interfere with early training when it has 
been good. In fact, I won't." 

An amusing incident was related to me by an officer who stood beside 
Admiral Dewey when it occurred. During the fight, when the insurgents 
were being mowed down after a particularly villainous attack on the 
Americans, Aguinaldo sent out a flag of truce. It was not a particularly 
clean flag, but a keen-sighted man might have perceived that it was white or 
had been. Dewey's attention was drawn to it. Shading his eyes with his 
hand he looked at it long and earnestly, and then turning to an officer said : 
" I am told that I am getting old. I must be^ as I can see no white flag." 
The fight went on and resulted in the utter rout of the insurgents, who, 
without a moment's warning, had commenced it. 

If Admiral Dewey ever reaches America's shores a live man I will never 
again say anything against hero worship. 



AN INTERRUPTED BATH. 



A Startling Incident of the Landing of Our Regulars at Guantanamo* 

WHEN Rudyard Kipling, in the early days of his war correspond- 
ence for the Calcutta Gazette, wrote his amusing tale of the cap- 
ture of the fanciful stronghold of I^ung-Tung-Pen by a detach- 
ment of naked British soldiers, led by a naked " orfcer boy," no 
one dreamed that this piece of strange fiction would be converted into stranger 
truth by the first body of regular United States troops landing at Guantanamo 
Bay, near Santiago de Cuba. Yet such was the case. One of the New York 
marines, in his first letter home, writes : 

> " We had raised the Stars and Stripes and pitched our tents, and we were 
mighty glad to get a chance to wash off in the surf. Everybody was in the 
best of spirits, and glad to rest from the work of hauling timber up 1 Chilcoot 



SECRETS OE SPAIN'S RED BOOK. 



Pass/ as we called the blazing hot trail over which we had to lug our sup- 
plies up to the camp. Suddenly, at half-past four in the afternoon, just as 
the boys were splashing about and squirting water all over each other, there 
came the ping, ping, ping of rifle-shots from the foot-hills, and a number of 
Spaniards appeared in the underbrush at the head of the lagoon. 

" The bullets whistled through the air, and for the moment startled the 
guards. It was only for an instant, however. Almost instantly they returned 
the fire with rapid volleys. As soon as the shots were heard the men came 
running from the camp ground and the shore to the aid of their comrades. 
Many of us who had been swimming did not have a shred of clothing on, 
but this made no difference. We dashed from the water, seizing our cart- 
ridge-belts and rifles as we ran, and made for the camp. 

" There was no undue excitement or panicky feeling, so far as I could 
see, however, nor did any of the men fire without orders, though it was 
awkward, of course, to push through the underbrush with bare skin. We 
know now what fighting in the Cuban jungle means. When the skirmishers 
returned from the woods they were simply black with the mosquitoes that 
covered them, and their legs, arms and bodies were jabbed with burrs and 
cactus needles." 



SECRETS OF SPAIN'S RED BOOK. 



A Summary of the Diplomatic Correspondence Not Intended for Public 
Eyes, but Which are Revelations of Surpassing Interest 
Concerning Spanish Conduct of the War- 
It has long been a custom of Spain, as it is of some other countries, to 
print the diplomatic correspondence that passes between its representatives 
and other governments on matters of vital importance to the nation, for sub- 
mission to the Cortes. The book is strictly a secret one, and re-publication 
of any part of it in the kingdom is prohibited under severe penalties. A 
copy of this exclusive publication, which has just been issued in two volumes 
of two hundred pages each, reached the United States through a secret 
channel, and a summary is here printed, which embraces the archives of the 
Spanish Department of State in reference to the Spanish spy system in 
America, the cutting of cables and the peace negotiations. In all these 
reports there is a plain tone of hopelessness and even despair. 



SECRETS OF SPAIN'S RED BOOK. 



293 



Spain did not yield her island empire gracefully. Isle by isle the 
Americans wrested the sovereignty of them from her in the negotiations. 
Compelled to offer the independence of Cuba when she sued for peace, 
she held to Porto Rico. When this was torn from her she stuck to the 
Philippines. There is a piteous note sounding in all the correspondence. 
Spain never had a show. We had her State ciphers, and when the Spanish 
Government, after travail and heartburning, authorized Cambon, the French 
Minister, to make the first tentative advance, and warned him that the honor 
of Spain was involved in his secret instructions, we had a copy of the 
instructions, and Cambon, when he went to McKinley, was startled to find 
the President already knew the last details of his mission. 

Another revelation of these messages that will astonish Americans is 
that Spain seriously contemplated an invasion of the 
United States until her fleet was destroyed. , A Threaten ^ 

J m Invasion of the 

The famous Red Book of Spain contains all the orders United States, 
of the government from the beginning of the late war till 
the close of hostilities, and much light is thrown on hitherto dark subjects. 

It shows the inside workings of the plan to have M. Cambon, the 
ambassador of France at Washington, sound the American Government as 
to its terms of peace. It brings out a curious fact, that when Cambon pre- 
sented his instructions to President McKinley, after having been put to great 
trouble to have them deciphered out of the private cipher of the Department 
of State for Spain, the ambassador found that the American President had 
been apprised of the instructions in advance of the ambassador, and knew 
the contents of the letter of instruction even down to the minutest details. 

The intense astonishment of M. Cambon got into his report to the 
Spanish Government, and this is also in the Red Book. 

The book shows that Spain was early aware of the fact that government 
messages to Cuba and Porto Rico over the cable lines were being intercepted 
and read by Americans — taken out of the sea, as it were. 
On this ground the Government of Spain held long confer- 5 * 33 ^^ th'^cabUs 
ences with the Mexican and Columbian governments, pro- Destruction, 
testing that the cables to those countries were being used 
by the Americans, in violation of the rules of international law. This inter- 
ruption of communication with her colonies was the first hard blow that 
Spain received, and the messages of the ministers show that it was a very 
hard blow indeed. Spain tried to stir up trouble between France and the 
United States because of the cutting of the French cables, and made formal 
complaint to the French Government. She also tried to excite other Euro- 
pean nations against the United States, because this government proceeded 



294 



SECRETS OF SPAIN'S RED BOOK. 



to take prizes of Spanish ships before the formal declaration of war. The 
opening chapter of the Red Book begins on April 20, 1898, when the 
president of the Helvetic Confederation proposed to the Government of 
Spain that she make adherence to the additional article of the Convention 
of Geneva of October 28, 1868. 

After the protests to foreign governments of the illegality of the Ameri- 
can way of making war, the Red Book reproduces all the frantic messages 
in regard to keeping up communication with the colonies. To be cut off 
from communication with Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines was a night- 
mare in Spain that was fulfilled in reality before the war was many weeks 
old. Here are some -samples : 

Madrid, April 27. 

Poi,o y Barnabe, Toronto: 

I am very much troubled because of the lack of adequate and prompt communication 
between us and the Antilles. If the Americans should cut the cables our position would indeed 
be bad. I ask your Excellency how, in your opinion, may the evident intention of the Ameri- 
cans be thwarted. Guidon, Minister of Foreign Affairs. 

Polo's reply follows : 

Toronto, April 28. 

You can communicate with Cuba, sending telegrams to consul at Kingston. He can load 
small boats, which would carry correspondence to Santiago from north coast of Jamaica. I 
have sent Consul Castro and Vice-Consul Bringas to Kingston so that our consul there may 
have much needed help. Poi,o. 

Madrid, May 3. 

Enemy has cut cable Manila; transmit news necessary without regard expense. 

Gui^lon. 

This is the reply that came back : 

Hong Kong, May 7. 

Difficult to freight steamer; afraid of Americans. Ask assurance of value to ship to 
provide against capture. Navarro. 

Madrid, May 5. 

Answer if communication can be restored with Manila via Bolinao; send messages there 
by foreign ships, and forwarding from Bolinao over land lines. Guli^on. 

Hong Kong, May 18. 

Have asked Governor-General of Philippines if telegram from Bolinao to Manila is safe 
means of transmission. Looks less difficult by Labuan, Singapore. Navarro. 

Hong Kong, May 27. 

I cannot transmit messages through north coast of Luzon, there being no wires between 
Aparri and Manila. Navarro. 

Singapore, May 29. 

Guidon: 

Compatriots from Iloilo say Manila cable cut by Americans 23d inst. 

Marinas. 



SECRETS OF SPAIN'S RED BOOK. 



295 



Madrid, May jo. 

Spanish Consul Hong Kong: 

Inform by cable if any way to communicate with certainty with Philippines. Try service 
by neutral ships, which may conduct message to Iyinguayen, Aparri or any port on north coast 
Luzon, whence land line to Manila. 

AI.MODOVAR. 

Spanish Consul, Singapore: 

Try service neutral ships to any port on south coast of Luzon, thence land line to Manila. 

Singapore, June 1. 

Received cable. Have worked day and night, but without result. Captains are afraid that 
they may be taken prizes by Americans. Have found one who inspires confidence and will 
carry Spanish pilot familiar with Philippine coast. Will not give positive answer for four 
days, as expects arrival of ship owner. He asks $200 daily; steamer capable of eight knots an 
hour. Marinas. 

Singapore, June 12. 

Ship owner arrives. Englishman. Refuses to freight ship. Says too small to risk bad 
weather. Really sympathizes with Americans. Marinas. 

Kingston, July 7. 

Cable broken. Communication with Cuba impossible. Americans extraordinarily alert. 
Watch all movements of boats. Captains report impracticable to dodge blockade. Risk too 
great. 

Kingston, July 7. 

Almodovar, Madrid: 

Americans hold cable. Have cut out loops around coast of Cuba and have possession of the 
line between Santiago and Mole St. Nicholas. Communication absolutely closed. 

After discussing the rupture of communication with the colonies the 
Minister of Foreign Affairs informs the Cortes of the work of the secret 
service. He says : " Though our secret service was as well organized as was 
possible, yet the work was conducted under great difficulties and sometimes 
did not produce the desired results. The secret service officials of the 
United States were unusually vigilant, and had a great force employed in 
the work. Nearly all foreigners were under espionage and it was necessary 
to employ either natives or men of kindred blood whose knowledge of 
customs and manners of the people was perfect, and who to a certain extent 
could disarm suspicion. But the American officers seemed suspicious of 
every one who manifested or appeared to manifest any disposition to make 
discoveries along any line. The service of these aliens was not always satis- 
factory, as they worked not through patriotic and high motives, but through 
low and sordid desires to make money. Of course, with men of 
this character it was not easy to produce good results, but despite* 
these difficulties our corps, under the able direction of Senors Du 
Bosque and Sobral, gained some very valuable information concerning 
things that would have been of wonderful value if an invasion of the 



296 



SECRETS OF SPAIN'S RED BOOK. 



United States had been decided on. This information would probably have 
been utilized but for the misfortune that befell us in the very beginning of the 
conflict. We possess now a complete assortment of drawings of fortifications, 
barracks, arsenals and navy yards. We derived from 

Valuable Informa- i,i eutenant Caranza estimable statistics of the strength 
tion Secured by . . 

Spanish Spies. an ^ spirit of the enemy, his means of offence and defence. 

Accurate topographical maps of the strategic parts of 
the country were obtained, and the vital points in the railroad systems of 
the country were duly marked. Senors Du Bosque, Sobral and Caranza are 
deserving of the highest praise for the services that they rendered, as the 
performance of each little duty connected with their work meant personal 
risk. Not only were the Americans very much alive to the exigencies of 
the moment, but the Canadian authorities, police and people, did not disguise 
the fact that they sympathized with their neighbors and aided the American 
authorities to the full extent of their power.' ' 

It will be a surprise to most Americans that Spain began to seek a 
peaceful settlement as early as July 8. On that date the Minister of 
Foreign Affairs sent the following dispatch to Ambassador Leon y Castillo, at 
Paris : 

See the Secretary of State for France and ask him to have the French Ambassador at 
Washington see the President of the United States and sound him gently as to the terms on 
which a suspension of hostilities might be agreed on. You should act with haste in this 
matter, but not with apparent haste or anxiety, as such action might prejudice our cause. You 
should be very discreet in this undertaking, as the Americans are tired of the war and would 
like to retire. They must not be given the impression that we are discouraged or that our 
resources are fast ebbing. 

The proposed peace negotiations remained at a standstill until July 20, 
when the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs sent the following dispatch to 
the ambassador at Paris : 

Press the cause and insist on having an early reply. Be quick, but do not appear in too 
much of a hurry. 

On July 21 the Ambassador wired back: 

The Secretary of State has obtained the consent of the President and the proposition will 
proceed with due diligence. 

On July 22 the French Secretary announced that a message had been 
sent to Ambassador Cambon at Washington. 

Directly after, the Spanish Prime Minister sent instructions to Cambon 
by way of Paris, and on July 24 received the following dispatch from the 
Ambassador at Paris : 

French Ambassador at Washington cannot decipher instructions because he has not the 

key. 



SECRETS OF SPAIN'S RED BOOK. 



297 



On the same date a cable was sent to the Spanish consul at Montreal 
ordering him to send key to the State Department cipher to Cambon. 
This message flashed back from Montreal : 

Have sent key No. 74 by confidential source to Cambon. 

On July 26 the following dispatch was received from the Spanish 
Ambassador at Paris : 

Secretary of State informs me that Ambassador Cambon has presented his instructions, and 
that the American President had full information concerning the document. He welcomed the 
French Ambassador and remarked that he was aware of the mission on which he called and 
was familiar with his instructions. This the ambassador found to be quite true upon close 
conversation with President McKiuley. Cambon is reported by the French Secretary to have 
been much chagrined and disappointed by reason of the untimely knowledge of the American 
President. It might be well to investigate how this information came to reach Washington so 
soon, as in it might be found an explanation of other leaks in the news service of the govern- 
ment. 

The Minister of Foreign Affairs sent the following confidential note to 
the Ambassador at Paris, to be handed by him to the Secretary of State, to 
be in turn transmitted to Ambassador Cambon, with the instruction that it 
be considered sacredly confidential. 

A marked headline, " Very Confidential," precedes the letter which 
follows : 

In explanation of the telegram of this evening concerning the disposition of the Spanish 
Government in order to coincide with the President of the United States in the preliminaries 
of the peace negotiations, it is convenient for Your Excellency to under- 
stand the thoughts and views of this government, so that you may be Spain's Hopes of 
able to maintain yourself with ease and dignity in the conversation you Saving Porto Rico 
must sustain with the President. You, of course, must have a complete and the Philippines, 
knowledge of our purposes. 

In the war with the United States it is necessary to distinguish the purposes of the war and 
the methods employed in its conduct. The end was the separation of Cuba from the Spanish 
Crown. The incidents of the war have been the attacks on the other colonies and dependen- 
cies of the Spanish nation. Upon the first Spain is willing to accept any solution which the 
United States may be pleased to offer. 

Absolute independence. 

Independence under the protectorate of the United States. 
Or, 

Annexation to the American Republic, preferring the policy of annexation to the United 
States, because that government will be better able and more disposed to protect the lives and 
property of the Spaniards resident in the island.' 

Any other solution which the United States may require as consequence of war, you will 
understand, or any other pretensions which the United States may assume toward territory 
other than Cuba must be through deeds of arms which shall constitute a 

transitory occupation, or through expenses incurred by the campaign. Principle of Indem- 
In the matter of Cuba this government reserves nothing. I admit the nity Admitted, 
principle of indemnity within reasonable bounds, but I wish you to put 

forward the proposition that Spain should not be held responsible for unnecessary expenses as 
well as for certain action of arms committed during the war. It must not be lost sight of that 



298 



SECRETS OF SPAIN'S RED BOOK. 



the Spanish nation did not provoke the war. And even if the fortune of war has been against 
this nation, I undefstana that our territory other than Cuba is not to be considered as the spoils 
of the victor. 

I will be very grateful to you if you inquire into the probable attitude of the President 
on -h~ question of Porto Rico and the Philippines. If the ideas of the President are in con-( 
formity with those of this government, we beg you to hasten the demand for the suspension 
of hostilities, which this government desires to obtain for the sake of alleviating hunger in 
the West Indies and to prevent further massacres in the Philippines. If you and the President 
can put yourselves in accord the armistice can be immediately proclaimed. 

Try to avoid anything which would produce any unpleasant feeling should the matter 
have to be considered by an international congress. 

The most rapid plan would be that each government should nominate a commission to 
confer in some neutral city, and the most aKgibic place I believe, would be Paris. 

I congratulate you on the skill, industry ant intelligence you have thus far shown in the 
conduct of the negotiations, and I promise you that the gratitude of this nation will be in just 
proportion to your ability and merit. Ai^modovar Dei, Rio. 

The next note from the Spanish Ambassador to the Minister of Foreign 
Affairs at Madrid had this gloomy forecast : 

Ambassador Cambon states that he has understood from authentic sources that the hostili- 
ties will continue with vigor till peace is a reality, as the American Government and the 
people are afraid of the diplomatic delays which may be practiced on them by Spain. They 
fear that Spain may take advantage of these delays to recover some of her lost force and recover 
some of her lost ground. 

Following is a translation of the message sent to the Spanish Minister 
of Foreign Affairs by Ambassador Cambon : 

Washington, July 31. 
Senor Duke : — As I announced to you in my previous telegram, the President invited me 
to make observations on the petition formulated by the United States. I insisted on the dis- 
tinction which should be made between the question of Cuba, initial 
Only Through Hia cause of the Spanish -American conflict, and the new question which has 
Emotions Was resulted from the operations of the war. In reference to Cuba, I answered 
McKinley Moved, that Cpain is disposed to make all the necessary concessions to bring 
about peace; Spain persists in feeling for the island the dangers of a 
premature independence. The Americans recognize this, because the general commanding the 
American army of invasion would not permit his Cuban allies to enter the city of Santiago. . . . 

Passing to Article No. 3, I said that this was :,ut forth for the especial purpose of endanger- 
ing in Spain the success of the peace negotiations, and this would be especial! y true if between 
the words intervention and government of the Philippines the word " possession " be inserted, 
which would put in doubt from the instant of its introduction into the document the sovereignty 
of Spain. 

"You will observe," said the President, " that my petitions in referring to the first two articles 
do not admit of discussion. I leave to future negotiations the care and consideration of the 
Philippine question. If the American forces retain their position it is because of the obligation 
I owe to the residents and the foreign population." 

Seeing that the President was firm in his determination not to modify the third article, 
I made a play upon his emotions, and he was visibly moved, and disregarding the opposition 
of Secretary Day, the President ordered that the word :c possession " should be stricken out 
and replaced by the word " disposition." This does not prejudice the result of the negotia- 
tions. 



SECRETS OF SPAIN'S RED BOOK. 



299 



When the President had made the desired change in the article, he spoke very familiarly 
with me, and expressed much sorrow that Spain had not sued immediately for peace after the 
battle of Cavite. The conditions, the President said, would be different, and the war could 
have been brought to a close without the very great loss which Spain must now suffer. 

The President told me that if Spain declined to agree to Article 3 she would have to submit 
to still greater loss, and he begged of me to make this clearly understood at Madrid. 

Obeying your instructions, I made the attempt to secure the immediate suspension of 
hostilities. . . . The best that I could do was to secure from the President the promise 
that hostilities would be suspended as soon as the Government at Madrid should make known 
its willingness to accept the American terms. He desired to know if I had authority to act for 
Spain in the matter of suspension of hostilities, and I answered yes. 

The conference lasted for two and one-half hours. I have done my best to deserve your 
confidence, and have done my utmost to defend the interests of Spain. 

With sorrow that I could not obtain greater concessions, but fearing that the determination 
of the American Government to humble Spain cannot be swerved, I am, your obedient 
servant, 

Juices Cambon. 

Up to this time Cambon represented the Government of Spain through 
the French Government, but from this date on he was the direct represen- 
tative at Washington of the Government of Spain. 

Ambassador Cambon tried to do as Duke Almodovar del Rio cabled 
him, and this is his report of what happened : 

I have informed th* President that the Spanish Government con- 
siders the demands of the American Government as excessively rigorous. President and 
riicy consider the necessity of ceding Porto Rico as a war indemnity a Secretary Day 
very great hardship. I told him that this island had never been in Seemed Disap- 
dispute between Spain and the United States and had not been an pointed That Spain 
element in the conflict. I asked him to accept other territory as com- Accepted Terms, 
pensation. 

As I expected, Mr. McKinley showed inflexibility, and repeated that the Philippine 
question was the only one which had not been already settled in his mind. I took up this 
point and begged the President to state to me his intentions as far as possible concerning the 
Philippines. On this point I said that the terms of the United States as written might be con- 
strued to mean that Spanish sovereignty in the Philippine archipelago was at an end. Mr. 
McKinley answered: " I will not leave you in error on this subject. The commissioners of the 
two countries will determine the Philippine question — will settle the question as to which shall 
be the governing nation there. " He said " that the Government of Spain could rest assured that 
up to the present time I have formed no conclusion on this matter and have formed no resolve 
against Spain 

This cablegram concluded with this sizing up of the situation by the 
Ambassador : 

I have said before that the President of the United States will remain firm in bis position, 
and taking into consideration that Your Excellency asks my personal opinion, I cannot do less 
than persist in the assertion that each new symptom of vacillation or delay will bring about a 
more serious condition and bring more rigorous terms. JuiyES Cambon. 



300 



SECRETS OF SPAIN'S RED BOOK. 



The birth of the protocol is described in a message from Cambon to the 
Duke under date of August 10 : 

The President and his Secretary of State appeared to be much disappointed that Spain 
accepted the terms, it seeming to be apparent that they thought that Spam would reject the 
terms that America might have greater excuse for forcing the war to the 
Rejection of Spain's end. 

Proposals. After a long silence Mr. McKiuley said: "I asked of Spain the 

immediate cession and evacuation of Cuba and Porto Rico. Instead of 
sending to me a categoric reply I am given a general note. The Spanish Government declares 
that it cannot give the answer I desire until the Cortes has been consulted. I cannot consider 
such a proposition." 

All my observations were futile. The President was firm. Seeing that he was at the point 
of ending the interview and breaking off peace negotiations, I begged him to tell me what 
security he could offer Spain as to his sincerity. He replied: " There is only one way to con- 
clude this series of errors and delays, and that was to draft a protocol which should include the 
conditions demanded by the United States and to which Spain must agree if she be sincere in 
her'protestations of desire for peace." 

The protocol will be shown to me to-morrow, and there is no doubt that the terms will be 
strict and rigorous, and I am persuaded that the President cannot be induced to modify the 
American pretensions. 

I tell you frankly that if Spain does not accept the protocol promptly she need expect no 
lenity from the victors. They are determined upon the utter humiliation of Spain, and the 
success of their arms encourages them to believe that they can obliterate the kingdom. 

Cambon. 



The protocol was signed immediately and Spain named her commis- 
sioners. 

Then follow in the Red Book the cablegrams which show the frantic 
efforts of Spain to hold the Philippines and its plea for permission to use the 
Spanish troops there against the Philippine rebels. The downfall of these 
hopes is chronicled in a cablegram from Cambon. 

The Red Book contains the full text of the protest which the Spanish 

Government made in which Spain seeks to prove that Admiral Dewey's 

communications to the War Department concerning the 

Spanish Protests con( jition of the families of Spanish prisoners were false, 
and Charges Against . . . 

Dewey. ^n attack is made against Admiral Dewey m the allegation 

that his conduct proves him to be an accomplice of the 

Tagals. Spain insists that it is in possession of authentic reports which 

contradict those received from Admiral Dewey. These prisoners held by 

the Tagals are subjected to barbarous and cruel treatment by the natives 

and their condition becomes each day more pitiable. Spain cites news 

received by American newspapers which corroborate its own reports. 

The protest recites that the official relations existing between the 

American admiral and Aguinaldo, chief of the Tagal insurgents, are 



SKCRKTS OF SPAIN'S RED BOOK. 



301 



suspiciously close. It maintains that most of the Spanish prisoners are held 
in territory over which American troops exercise authority. The charge is 
made that Admiral Dewey himself turned over to the Tagals certain Spaniards 
taken prisoners of war. 

The note begs that in the name of humanity the American Government 
cause the liberation of the prisoners. 

Secret telegram No. 133, on page 175 of the Red Book, is an interesting 
one from Blanco, Governor-General of Cuba. The dispatch was sent to the 
Minister of the Colonies on October 7. It follows : 

The president of our commission informs me that he fears the Americans do not quite 
correctly understand the meaning of the word evacuation. It is the opinion of the Americans 
that evacuation means that not onty the military and naval forces in 

Cuba, but the civil functionaries as well, shall divorce themselves from Blanco's Struggle 
the island. Our commissioners have sought to enlighten the.Americans with the Evacuation 
as to the true definition of the word evacuation, but without success. Commission. 
I asked your opinion as to the best plan to enlighten the Americans. 

The Americans make the following statement: " The word evacuation as used in the protocol 
means that not only the military officers, but that the government officials employed in the 
civil administration shall leave this island." The Americans are very stubborn on this point. 
They also make the violent pretension that they shall keep all the artillery and particularly 
that mounted in the forts. They are distressingly firm in the pretension. We are at a loss as 
to how to influence them. There is no limit to their avarice. Blanco. 

Those chosen officials of Spain whose privilege it has been to inspect 
this royal publication, have privately expressed the opinion that much of the 
important correspondence carried on by Spain with other governments during 
the war was not incorporated in the book. 

During the war the government gave out suggestions of intrigues with 
other governments with the aim of curbing the imperialism of the United 
States. It was suggested that a defensive and offensive alliance had been 
considered between Spain and Austria. This correspondence does not appear 
in the Red Book. This has awakened comment in Madrid, that the Spanish 
Minister either deluded the people with the glittering idea of a foreign 
alliance, or purposely suppressed correspondence of vital importance to the 
people of Spain. 



302 



THE COURAGEOUS ACT OF ENSIGN GIWS. 



THE COURAGEOUS ACT OF ENSIGN GILLIS, 



And Also Some of the Gayeties of War When Danger is Greatest* 

THE amazing deeds of valor and execution by Dewey, Hobson, Schley 
and the army heroes at Santiago and Manila, are well preserved in 
permanent pages of history, but there was another whose deed was 
no less courageous but who has failed to receive the large measure 
of recognition that he deserves. Ensign Gillis was executive officer of the 
torpedo boat " Porter," which performed many daring exploits in Cuban 
waters, but the greatest was that which may be thus described : 

• One dark night Admiral Cervera sent a destroyer out from Santiago 
harbor, and, whatever happened to the destroy ei, the next morning some 
German torpedoes were floating around. " One," said Captain Fremont, of 
the " Porter," "was coming straight for my little boat. Do you know Gillis ? 
Has nothing in his composition but plain nerve. I have to watch him 
all the time ; but this time he was too quick for me. The torpedo was 
coming slowly ; if it touched our side there would be nothing more for any 
of us except a bed under water. He had his shoes off and his coat before I 
knew it. ' Don't do it, Gillis ; she's got her war nose on.' Til unscrew it, 
sir,' said the boy, and over the side he went, threw his arms around the 
torpedo, headed it away from us, and then began feeling for its business end. 
Well, the air-cock opening, the torpedo dived from the ensign's arms to 
the bottom." 

It was a consoling as well as encouraging feature of our war with Spain 
that our soldiers and sailors, while doing their grim duty in the face of the 
most serious obstacles, yet retained all the native Yankee humor for which 
our race is justly famous. When the North Atlantic squadron was still 
stationed at Key West, the resourceful blue-jackets of our monitors found 
diversion in organizing a unique series of bicycle races, held upon the 
cleared decks of those deadliest of naval fighting monsters. Later, when the 
blockade was established and one Spanish prize after another was caught in 
the meshes of Admiral Sampson's drag-net, the mirth of the whole fleet was 
aroused by the amusing capture of the Spanish auxiliary cruiser " Panama " 
by the light-house tender " Mangrove," the homeliest and most insignificant 
vessel of the fleet, and by the ludicrous capitulation of the Spanish captain 
and his crew to a single American ensign armed with a chaplain's revolver. 
Another similar contribution to the gayety of nations was when the British 



THK COURAGEOUS ACT OF ENSIGN GILJ.IS. 



303 



man-of-war " Talbot " had to show her colors in mid-ocean, in response to a 
solid shot across her bow from an infinitesimal Yankee tug, advancing upon 
the mighty cruiser as if to engage her then and there. 

A later exhibition of American drollery was in the form of a fac-simile 
program of farewell exercises held on board the flag-ship off Santiago de 
Cuba on the night before Lieutenant Hobson took the ' ' Merrimac " into the 
jaws of death. One of the heroes who went with Hobson upon his perilous 
mission asked that the band on board the flag-ship that evening might play 
" There'll be a hot time in the old town to-night." Going him one better, 
the bandmaster arranged for the following elaborate program of specially 
selected pieces : 

ARMORED CRUISER "NEW YORK," 

FI^AG-SHIP NORTH ATLANTIC STATION. 



Muster— "Iowa," "Texas," "Oregon," "Dolphin," "New York," 
' ' New Orleans, " " Massachusetts, " " Marblehead, " 
"Mayflower," "Brooklyn," "Harvard," 
"Porter," "Vixen." 



Newspaper Fleet. — Three Boats. 



Collier. — ' ' Merrimac. ' ' 

{Farewell.) 



"ON GUARD" OFF "SANTIAGO DE CUBA." 
" SCHLEY " Men with the strength of " SAMPSON " in the 
" MERRIMAC." 
A TRUE NAVAL DRAMA— the real old McCoy. 
Latest Song To-Night: 
" Are you going to come out to-night ? If so, step lively; we're 
going to lock the door." 



. Aronson 

, . AUBER 

voeestedt 
. Braham 
. . Jordan 
. . DeWitt 



PROGRAM OF MUSIC. 

March " For Love or War. ' ' . 

Overture "Bronze Horse." . . 

WAETZ "^olly Brothers." . 

' ' Surprise Medley. " 

"The Song That Reached My Heart." 

QuADRiijvE " The Rialto " . . 



Wednesday, June 2, 1898, 



3<H 



HONORING A DEAD FOE. 



HONORING A DEAD FOE. 



How the American Troops Sought Out and Buried the Spanish Hero 

of EI Caney. 

"T~ ~T" ~T"HEN the complete history of the Spanish-American war comes 
\/\/ to ^ e wr itten, a prominent place must be reserved for the des- 
y * cription of an incident that shines out from the smoke of battle 
and the strife and carnage of conflict like a star in a cloudy 
sky. The incident was the military funeral given the body of the Spanish 
general, Vara del Rey, in Santiago last November, by the American gov- 
ernor, General Leonard Wood. In its thorough courtesy, simple yet earnest, 
it is unexcelled in history. What greater pathos can be found than in the 
spectacle of the aged general, Valderrama, going, cap in hand, from his ship 
in Santiago Bay to the palace, and, addressing General Wood, saying : 
" Senor, we have come for our dead." 

And General Wood, bluff, dignified, courteous to the last degree, the 
beau ideal of a soldier, with what cordiality did he grasp General Valder- 
rama's hand and reply : 

" Sir, we are at your command. General Vara del Rey was a brave 
man, and we honor his memory. His body shall be found and given all the 
military courtesies in our power." 

General Wood forthwith made the visitors his guests of honor, and 
deputized his personal aid, Lieutenant M. E. Hanna, to look for the body, 
When General Vara del Rey fell, fighting at the head of his men at the 
famous defence of HI Caney on July i, he was buried on the field by General 
Law ton, and his grave duly marked. Pour months later, when the party of 
Spanish officers, escorted by Lieutenant Hanna and a detail of the Fifth 
Regular Infantry, began the search, the marks had totally disappeared, and 
there was nothing left among the scattered graves to indicate in which rested 
the remains of the brave Spanish general. After a long search without 
success, Lieutenant Hanna sought the good offices of a Cuban who stated 
that he could locate the spot without trouble. He led them to a place just 
outside of the town, and said that the Spaniard would be found there. Then 
he walked away. After digging for some time, a mass of decaying bones 
was turned up — but they were the bones of a mule. Enraged at the 



HONORING A DEAD FOE. 



3^5 



deception and the insult directed at his guests, Lieutenant Hanna went to the 
alcalde, or mayor, of the town, a Cuban. 

"Alcalde," he said, sternly, "by whose will do you hold your office? " 

rt His excellency, General Wood's will, senor," was the reply. 

" Then, as you value your position, find me a guide who can lead us to 
the grave of General Vara del Rey. You know where it is. Every Cuban 
in El Caney knows where it is. If we do not find the body within three 
hours you will pay the penalty. ' ' 

The trembling alcalde hurriedly sent for a native, who listened to the 
alcalde's orders with evident reluctance, and finally denied that he knew 
the spot. Lieutenant Hanna acted promptly. Producing a revolver, he 
aimed it at the Cuban and exclaimed sternly : 

" Show us General Vara del Rey's grave at once, you scoundrel. You 
know ■ where it is. Lead us there or I'll blow your head from your 
shoulders." 

The man was upon his knees in a jiffy. He alternately cried with fear 
and begged for mercy. The affair ended with the party setting out, with 
him in the lead. A short distance from town, in a field near the road run- 
ning to Santiago, three mounds were found. 

"It is one of those, senor," said the frightened guide. 1 'Which, I do 
not know, but I am sure you will find the Spaniard in one." 

He was guarded while the nearest grave was opened. It contained the 
body of a Cuban youth. The earth was filled in again and the next disin- 
terred. When the features of the occupant came to light General Valder- 
rama crossed himself and exclaimed with emotion : 

"It is he. It is my poor compatriot, General Vara del Rey." 

The identification was complete, and little time was lost in transferring 
the body to the handsome casket brought from Spain. On the outskirts of 
Santiago the party was met by a battalion of the Fifth Infantry and the 
regimental band. A procession was formed, and the march through the 
town began. Lieutenant Hanna, Captain Borden and General Valderrama 
rode at the head, followed by the band and a battalion of American sol- 
diers; Then came the hearse, an imposing affair, and bringing up the rear 
were a number of Spanish officers, who had accompanied the general. The 
band played a dirge, and, as the cortege passed the palace, General Wood 
and staff stood at attention with bared heads. To many of the Cuban spec- 
tators this display of honor and courtesy was remarkable and entirely 
uncalled for. They regarded General Vara del Rey as a Spaniard, therefore 
an enemy, and, it is unpleasant to relate, they lost no opportunity to revile 
his memory and his remains, 
30 



3o6 



CHARACTER OF THE FILIPINOS. 



The cortege proceeded to the wharf, and the coffin was taken on board a 
Spanish steamer for transmission to Spain. " You belong to a grand nation," 
said General Valderrama to Lieutenant Hanna, as he bade him good-bye. 
" We will never forget this day. The saints be with you and your people." 



CHARACTER OF THE FILIPINOS. 



A Race of People who are Not Amenable to the Arts of Civilization* 

By A. C. Buell, of Cramp's Shipbuilding Company. 

THB keynote of the singularly frank and lucid speech of the Presi- 
dent at the dinner of the Boston Home Market Club was : " Con- 
ciliation of the Philippine natives." Almost simultaneously an 
interview with General Otis was published here, in which that 
able and gallant soldier was represented as saying : " No one understands 
these natives." These two utterances, from such widely different points 
of view and from such sources of highest authority, suggest a problem 
to which but little attention has yet been given, at least but little attention 
based upon real knowledge of the conditions which must be met. 

Unquestionably the President's idea of u conciliation " springs from a 
humane impulse, and embodies a hope based upon the application of the 
Philippine natives of optimist theories in anthropology. Equally unques- 
tionable is the sincerity of General Otis, who, speaking bluntly, from obser- 
vation and experience on the spot, and unencumbered by theory of any 
kind, says : " No one understands these natives." 

Judged by the standard of any other race of savages with which the 
forces of the United States have hitherto had to deal, the curt remark of 
General Otis is true. The Philippine natives are partly 
Composition of f th Malayan race and partly Papuans or Negritos, the 
the Philippine . . /'.„.- • n , • n j 

Natives. Malays predominating numerically, physically and men- 
tally. So far as our task in enforcing sovereignty over the 
islands is concerned, it may be considered that the Malays form the only serious 
factor. 

The Malay, generally speaking, is one of the five great sub-divisions of 
the human species, according to the old ethnographers, and like the other 
great subdivisions, Caucasian, Mongolian, American and African, presents 



CHARACTER OF THE FILIPINOS. 



307 



numerous type, various somewhat in characteristics according to location 
and environment, but there is much less diversity of type in the Malay than 
in any of the other four great races. The one supreme and unvarying 
characteristic of the Malay, wherever found or under whatsoever conditions 
of existence, is that he is a savage, and not only that, but always and 
everywhere a gloomy, sullen, saturnine savage, utterly insensible to the logic 
of civilization and wholly impervious to its arts. 

During the four centuries of Spanish occupation, considerable amalga- 
mation has occurred, the result being, according to standard authorities, that 
about 15 per cent of the whole population, say 1,250,000, 

are " mestizo," or mixed breeds, in which Spanish fathers « Result of 

7 7 L Amalgamation. 

have given the names of that language to half-breed 

offsprings of Malay mothers, the Spanish women seldom or never allying 
themselves with Malay men. These " half-castes," or " mestizos," are the 
real " Filipinos," according to the strict Spanish meaning, though the word 
seems to have been adopted by the American and English newspapers as 
descriptive of the population as a whole. 

The effect of this cross-breeding of the Spaniard with the Malay savage 
is a general type in which the notorious national vices of the former have 
been engrafted upon the racial, traditional and hereditary savagery of the 
latter. If there ever was anything in the so-called " civili- 
zation " of Spain that could possibly improve, elevate or An Mmix * ure of 

m < Vicious I raits* 

enlighten a savage race by contact and admixture, it has 

always been conspicuously absent from any results apparent in the Philip- 
pine Islands. On the other hand, the amalgamation has accomplished 
nothing except to add to the racial distrust, jealousy, treachery and murder 
mania of the Malay ; the characteristic bigotry, bombast and duplicity of the 
Spaniard at his worst, the net result being, beyond doubt, the worst develop- 
ment of the human species on the face of the earth. 

The American Indian, the African, the Mongolian, even the fierce 
nomads of Central Asia, have been known to respond in some degree to the 
arts of civilization, and to yield somewhat to the precepts of enlightenment. 
But in all the history of his contact with the white man, not one instance 
is recorded of the civilization of the Malay, either as a pure-blood or as a 
half-caste. He has at times been subdued or temporarily held in check, but 
it has been done only when the white man succeeded in ' ' out-savaging him 
at his own savagery," as the English do in the Straits Settlements and India, 
and the Dutch in Sumatra, Java and the Timorean group. 

But though sometimes subdued, or held in check, the Malay has never 
been "conciliated" by anybody in the proper sense of the term. No matter 



308 



CHARACTER OF THE FILIPINOS. 



what means have been employed to cow him or constrain him, or to lepress his 
ferocious instincts, he remains at bottom the same wild animal, the same 
untamable beast of prey in human shape, ready for a new outbreak the 
instant he thinks the vigilance of his conqueror relaxed, or the heavy hand 
lifted for a moment from his neck. 

The English system of blowing Oriental fanatics from the muzzles of 
cannon, and the Dutch system of emasculating them, are based, not upon a 
refinement of cruelty, as is often supposed, but upon a deliberate selection 
of exemplary punishment, calculated to appeal most effectively to the super- 
stition and sense of horror of those with whom they have to deal. In all 
the Oriental creeds, Musselman and Pagan alike, the doctrine is universal 
that no man whose organs have been mutilated can enter the kingdom of 
heaven. This effect is produced by both the English process of blowing 
from the cannon's mouth, and by the simpler and more direct surgery of the 
Dutch. 

In the estimation of the Oriental Moslems and Pagans it, therefore, 
amounts to eternal punishment. Simple death, either in battle or by ordinary 
modes of execution is not dreaded by these people. But 
Death is Not they do dread and shrink from mutilation or defilement of 
Mutilation the b°dy, which in their creed is held to deny all hope of 
Horrifies. happiness in the next world. In short, nothing in the 
punitive way can appeal to the Malay sense unless it be 
something, that from his point of view, is more horrible than the devices of 
his own savagery. 

A quaint instance in proof is related in an old scrapbook of " Anecdotes * 
of the Whale Fishery," compiled by one of my Nantucket ancestors. Along 
in the '20s, '30s, '40s and '50s of this century, the last years of the 
whaling industry, whaleships operating in the Indian and West Pacific 
Oceans used frequently to recruit their crews in the Malay Islands. These 
recruits were principally drawn from Timor, the easternmost island of the 
Javan archipelago, because that island lay in the track of whalers passing 
from one ocean to the other through the Straits of New Guinea, and its 
harbors — Coupang, etc. — were the best in that part of the world. 

The Malay of Timor has long been noted as the most perfect specimen 
of his race, physically and mentally, and he is the best seaman of any race 
not Caucasian. Early in the '30s the whaleship " Phoenix," of Nantucket, 
Captain Gardner, having spent a season in the Indian Ocean, ran up through 
the narrow seas of New Guinea, bound for the Japan whaling ground. The 
crew being reduced by sickness, Captain Gardner touched at Coupang and 
shipped nine Malays, most of whom had already sailed in American or 



CHARACTER OF THE FILIPINOS. 



309 



English whalers. They soon proved to be an exceptionally hard lot, one in 
particular being almost constantly refractory. Finally, one day the first mate, 
William Starbuck, of Nantucket, chastised this Malay with a rope's end. Well 
aware of the treacherous and revengeful character of his customer, Starbuck 
kept his weather eye on the man. One day not long afterward, while the 
first mate's watch was washing down decks after cutting up a sperm whale, 
the Malay/ seeing Starbuck' s attention directed to something aloft, whipped a 
short " creese knife " from his shirt and darted a stab at the mate's back. The 
knife found its mark, but glanced along a rib without penetrating the body. 
Quicker than thought Starbuck whirled around, seized the Malay's right 
- wrist with one hand and his shoulder with the other and threw him to the 
deck. Starbuck had two loaded pistols in his belt and might easily have blown 
the Malay's brains but. But he knew the breed too well for that. To kill 
him in that manner would only invite vengeance from the 
other Malays. It was necessary to give him something subd^c^^Maiay 
that in the Malay estimation would be more horrible 
than sudden death. So " Bill " Starbuck, a giant in strength, took the 
Malay's right arm, placed his knee against the elbow and deliberately broke 
it backward, " the bones and tendons," says the old scrapbook, " of the 
doomed limb snapping like so many pine twigs as the joint yielded to the 
Samson-like strength of the pitiless mate. With one long howl of rage 
and anguish the Malay quivered convulsively and fainted. Rising to his 
feet Starbuck ordered a couple of buckets of water thrown over the quiv- 
ering wretch and walked away, remarking, " The mud-colored devil will 
have to stab left-handed hereafter." 

" The Malay came to out of his faint," pursues the old book, " but he 
never recovered. An attempt was made to straighten the arm and put it in 
splints, but the torn flesh and broken bones and tendons were past healing. 
The shock proved too much for the victim's system, and gangrene soon set 
in. The wretched Malay lingered for about four weeks in horrible agony 
and then died. It was fearful discipline, but nothing short of it would have 
sufficed. During the rest of the voyage, about fourteen months, the other 
eight Malays were as docile as rabbits. None of them wanted their elbows 
broken across Bill Starbuck's knee ! " 

The lesson of this anecdote is of historical value just now. Unlike 
General Otis, Bill Starbuck understood the natives. He knew how to 
" conciliate " them, though his method was doubtless radically different from 
that contemplated by our President. The reason why the other eight Malays 
in the "Phoenix's" crew were conciliated was because Bill Starbuck, from 



3io 



UNDER TWO FLAGS. 



their point of view, was a fiercer and cruder savage than any Malay ever 
dared be, and because his exhibition of physical prowess had stricken them 
with awe and terror. 

The prospect of dealing with such savages in the hope of educating 
thern up to the point at which they may comprehend the meaning of govern- 
ment by the consent of the governed, is not an inviting one. At present they 
have no conception of any meaning to the word " government," except as a 
synonym of organized plunder or systematic rapine. In dealing with such 
a race it is much easier to " take up the white man's burden " at the wrong 
end than at the right end. 

The captain of the " Phoenix " was Paul Jones Gardner, youngest son 
of Henry Grafton Gardner, who served five years in the Revolution under 
Paul Jones, and was acting gunner of the " Bon Homme Richard " when she 
took the " Serapis " in 1779, while Bill Starbuck, then not more than twenty- 
three or twenty-four years old, was a grandson of Owen Starbuck, who was 
quarter gunner in the " Ranger " under Jones when she took the " Drake " 
off Carrickfergus in 1778. 



UNDER TWO FLAGS. 

A Hero of the Blue and the Gray. 

By an Old Comrade. 

BORNE to the battlefield one day on a litter because he was too sick to 
walk ; climbing a tree another day like a schoolboy, in order to get 
a better peep at the enemy's Santiago intrenchments ; incessantly 
on the go among his troops and officers, and filling up the few gaps 
of spare moments with first-class newspaper letters lauding the gallant work . 
of his boys in the field — such are some telling snap shots at " Fighting Joe " 
Wheeler. He is a "steam engine in pantaloons," they say, and carries his 
sixty-three years as easily as he would a bamboo cane. By the side of the 
mammoth Shafter, nearly a 300-pounder, the little general r s one hundred 
and fifteen pounds of very spare meat and small bones make him look like a 
pocket edition of a warrior. 

Next to General J. B. B. Stuart, Wheeler was by odds the best and 
nerviest cavalry leader on the Confederate side. He was one of the gallant 
" batch of Confederate devils," as Sherman called them, who made the latter's 



UNDER TWO FLAGS. 



3" 



march to the sea such a thorny enterprise. He so distinguished himself that 

in 1865 he was appointed a lieutenant-general, and at the close of the war was 

in command of the cavalry operating with the forces of General Joe Johnston. 

The infantry of the Union armies in the West were more familiar with 

the names of Wheeler, Forrest and Morgan than with the names of any 

other Confederate generals. " They were nearly always 

where we didn't want them to be, and they gave us lots of The Dashing Raids 

? . ' & of General Wheeler. 

trouble," says a retired Union major. "I never forgave 

General Wheeler for his raid around our army at Stone River. Just as we 
were having all we could attend to in front, Wheeler left the extreme right of 
the Confederate Army, made a dash to the rear of Rosecrans' army, captured 
and destroyed wagon trains, captured hospital trains with our wounded, 
burned everything burnable, evaded our own cavalry columns and in two 
days reached the left wing of the Confederate army, as one of the boys put 
it, fresh as a daisy." 

Wheeler was born at Augusta, Ga., and graduated at West Point in the 
class of '59. When the break came between North and South he resigned 
his commission in the United States army and was appointed colonel of the 
Nineteenth Alabama Infantry. He commanded a brigade at Shiloh. Next 
he was transferred to the cavalry, and in 1862 was placed over that arm of 
the service under Braxton Bragg, in the West. A major-general in 1863, he 
led the Confederate cavalry on the bloody and stubborn battlefield of Chicka- 
mauga. " The recognition of Joe Wheeler in the uniform of a United 
States general," said one of his old soldiers recently, "impresses all those 
who shared for years the hardships, privations and dangers which he under- 
went as a Confederate cavalry leader, as one of those incomprehensible events 
that the whirligig of time brings about." 

General Wheeler as he appeared during the Civil War was youthful, 
almost boyish, except for a heavy silken beard ; neat and dapper in dress, as 
gentle mannered as a woman, refined in expression, never indulging in oaths 
or rude speech. I have seen him blush to the roots of his hair at the recital 
of some objectionable story or coarse remark of some rough officer, whom 
he valued for his zeal and courage. 

It was when the battle was joined, however, that Wheeler was seen at 
his best. Then it was that the little general, mounted on his big black 
charger, seemed to grow to the full stature of a cavalry- 
man. The whole man, who but an hour ao>o was the Thc ll ? p * raonat,on 

' 55 of Daring. 

suave and courteous gentleman, became the alert and 
dangerous antagonist, regardless of bursting shells and singing bullets, look- 
ing intently for the opportunity to charge the columns opposing him. As 



312 



UNDER TWO FLAGS. 



he gave his orders, in his lisping speech, there was method and deliberation 
that comprehended the situation. The celerity of his movements and his 
restless activity gave his command but little repose. If it were not an attack 
that he was planning he was organizing a raid to burn bridges or tear up the 
railroads in the rear of the enemy. So that to ride with Wheeler was to 
live in the saddle, to sleep in the saddle, to be here to-day, but far away to- 
morrow. General Wheeler is a much older man now ; his locks are white, but 
he is still vigorous and active, as keen for attack in his blue uniform upon 
the enemies of the Stars and Stripes as he ever was upon those of the stars 
and bars when he wore the gray. 

The little general is a bunch of alert, indefatigable nerves and fibres. 
He never rests. As a member of Congress from Alabama for seven terms 
he used to serve lazy members as a horrible example of industry. You 
never found him in the cloak room with his feet cocked up, taking it easy. 
He kept five secretaries on the go all the time hunting down facts and figures 
for speeches, and they found so much game in roaming through the depart- 
ment archives that " Fighting Joe " seldom let a day pass without firing 
some of his ammunition on the floor. They say he spreads over more space 
in the Congressional Record than any three men in the House. Alabama is 
- kept flooded with his franked speeches and documents of that alluring char- 
acter that burst in such a Johnstown avalanche from the government printing 
office. It is told that as the general was riding about his home district one day 
he overtook a mail carrier on foot. He took the fellow up in his buggy and 
asked him why he did not have a horse. " I did have 
His Generosity one >" ne sa id, " but old Wheeler sent down so many docu- 
ments from Washington that it killed him in trying to 
deliver them." And it is added that the carrier soon afterward received a 
present of a new horse. The story may be mythical, but when a member 
repeated it to the general he laughed and admitted that the statement was 
founded on fact. 

When the trouble with Spain began this fighting ex-Confederate was 
among the first to offer his services to the President, and they were at once 
snapped up with the hearty, unanimous approval of the nation. He was 
very proud, they say, when he got into the blue at Chickamauga Camp, 
among the scenes where he had fought so fiercely against the flag he is serv- 
ing now. Restless till he got to the front, impetuously br,ave in action 
to-day, as he was a generation ago, respected and revered as soldier and gen- 
tleman by his entire command, and thoroughly enjoying the fullest confidence 
of the President and Congress, what finer object lesson can be found of the 
new-born patriotism that has thrilled and welded the country, than this hero 
of the gray leading regiments on the Cuban hills in the blue ! 



HEROES IN THE HOLD. 



3i3 



HEROES IN THE HOLD. 

WHILE unlimited praise has been given to the gallant man who 
stood on the bridge of the fated " Merrimac," and to his com- 
panions who were at their perilous posts of duty on the upper 
deck, on that memorable morning in Santiago harbor, let us 
not forget the heroes in the " stoke hole." 

If Lieutenant Hobson and his associates were brave, what is to be said 
of the sublime courage of the engineer whose hand was at the throttle, and 
the firemen who shoveled coal into the blazing furnaces as the good ship 
sailed into the jaws of death ? Here were heroes, indeed — heroes of song 
and story, of romance and rhyme, such as might inspire poets to the loftiest 
nights and the pen of the historian with glowing imagery. 

On the bridge stood a man who played in the great lottery for the 
grandest prize of life. Whether he lost or won, enduring fame was his. 
Success meant the listing of his name on the roll of immortality along with 
those of Dewey, Schley, Paul Jones, Decatur, Perry and Farragut. What 
a laurel wreath of everlasting glory for one single act in the great drama of 
war ! But down in the hold, twenty feet below the surface of the rolling 
billows, in ominous darkness relieved only by^the light of flickering lamps, 
no sounds save the drone of the engine, the creaking of the hull and the 
swash of the lashing waves came to tell aught of what was transpiring 
above. Nothing but the soul of valor to inspire such men ! No place for 
them on fame's eternal camping ground. Nothing but the self-same spirit 
of Jim Bludsoe to keep " her nozzle agin the bank " till all but himself were 
safe on shore. The man with his hand upon the valve and his keen ear 
intent upon the warning bells, the men, grimy, sweating, blackened, 
furiously piling coal into the yawning, roaring furnaces — neither knowing 
when the dread explosion would come that might send them, torn to frag- 
ments and scattered upon the four winds, to their fearful doom — these were 
the real heroes of the " Merrimac." 

They knew there would be no lasting reward for them, no glorious 
heritage which they could transmit to their children, no renown such as 
would envelop the leaders at Thermopylae, at the Alamo, or the cool and 
daring lieutenant on the bridge above them. To them it was duty, plain 
and simple, humble and obscure, with the full knowledge that the reward 
must be the consciousness of duty well performed. No substantial promo- 
tion, only a fleeting notoriety, no pointing to the way where glory waits. 



3H 



SONG OF THE BATTLESHIP STOKERS. 



All honor, say we, to the intrepid engineers and the firemen of our war 
ships ! L,ong may their memories be preserved by their admiring country- 
men ! All honor to men whose only reward is the consciousness of duty 
well performed ! 



SONG OF THE BATTLESHIP STOKERS- 

By Katharink CooiviDGE. 

HEAVE on the coal, to win the goal 
Of a blasting ocean war ! 
By pits of hell stand sentinel, 
% As the deadly cannon roar. 

The engines beat in blanching heat, 
Our battleship ploughs her course, 
Up there they fight in cool daylight, 
While we feed the monster's force. 

Over the sea, our battery 

Will lay waste the upper world ; 
And far from fame we feed the flame, 

As the bursting bonfbs are hurled. 
We cannot know the ebb and flow 

Of the battle's rushing tide, 
But hear the boom of unknown doom 

Where the thundering warships ride. 

Each moment passed may be our last, 

For the crashing bomb-shells fly, 
And fires of fate reverberate 

In the wide, smoke-laden sky. 
In lurid night we feed the fight, 

As the belching cannon roar. 
Heave on the coal, to win the goal 

Of our country's ocean war ! 



HOW IT FEELS TO BE UNDER FIRE. 



3*5 



HOW IT FEELS TO BE UNDER FIRE. 



A Realistic Description of a Bloody Engagement by One Who 

Participated* 

By John G. Winter, Jr. 

MR. WINTER, who is barely twenty-one years of age, comes from a fighting family; 
his grandfather, thrice removed, was on the staff of General George Washington; 
his father served under Fitzhugh Lee, and also under General Wheeler, in the 
Civil War, and, singularly enough, he has two sons, one of whom served under 
General Lee and the other under General Wheeler during the war with Spain. 
The young Santiago hero was graduated from the University of Virginia, and had the distinc- 
tion of being the best all-round athlete of that institution. Previously, he was graduated from 
the military academy, where he and his brother, who was valedictorian, were two of the 
four who took first honors. Young Winters was with the Rough Riders in front of Santiago, and 
was severely wounded before Siboney, on the first day of July. 

It is of an ever memorable experience that I write, one which the whole 
nation felt much interest in, but to me it is one specially to be remembered 
ibr reasons I will presently give. 

Our march toward Santiago was by regiment in line of battle ; F troop, 
which was on the extreme left, took position on the brow of a low hill. 
Except for the troops next to F, I soon lost track of the movements of the 
other men. Then came the most unique experience of my life, and one I shall 
never forget ; both lines opened fire, and Mauser bullets began to whistle 
around our heads. The Spaniards were on a hill and in a sunken road 
immediately opposite to us, and in a position of no disadvantage. They had 
several machine-guns, which were quickly put in action, and then the men 
began to drop. You have never been under the fire of a gun shooting 300 
times a minute ; this is one of the first battles in civilized warfare in which 
it has been used. When the' bullets strike the ground they all appear to do 
so at once, and as if they were strung out in a row. One man in my squad 
was struck in three places simultaneously. It would be difficult — almost 
impossible — for me to describe clearly my feelings during the first part of 
the engagement. I felt very much as if I was shooting doves, and held my 
carbine in the same position, advancing slowly, excited, and impatient for 
the order to u Fire at will." For the first half-hour I loaded, aimed and 
shot as fast as my hands and eyes could work, but after a while the first 



3i6 



HOW IT FEELS TO BE UNDER FIRE. 



excitement of the fight passed off, and I worked more calmly and method- 
ically. I cannot say whether or not my shots had any effect, but for the 
most part I directed my fire toward a kind of blockhouse in which there 
were a large number of Spaniards. At one stage of the fight the enemy 
made a movement toward our right, and the troops on the left, considerably 
scattered, were ordered to march u by the right flank, double time." It was 
not until this moment that I realized the horror of war. There was a man 
named Irvine in our troop with whom I had been thrown a good deal. We 
had become as close friends as an acquaintanceship of several weeks could 
make us, and we had been fighting together a good deal. In executing the 
order just mentioned he was a little in front of me and to one side, both of 
us running ; there were a number of dead around, and several wounded that 
had not been taken to the rear, and the sight of them stirred me greatly ; 

but as I looked at the man in front of me the breath left 

AC ° ShotOff " Cad my b ° dy f ° r the moment as the wllole to P of llis head flew 
up in the air, his skull blown to atoms by an explosive 

bullet. He fell heavily with a thud, and I ran on past his body, but I knew 

at last the meaning of the phrase, u The art of war." He was the only man 

that I saw killed ; it was but a short time before the enemy were run out of 

their position, retreating toward Santiago. We lost about sixty killed, 

wounded and missing, a little less than 10 per cent, and the Rough Riders 

buried 105 Spaniards. A fitting end to the battle was the burial of our own 

dead ; they were all put in one grave. The men were grouped with bared 

heads around the grave, while the chaplain read a chapter from the Bible ; 

then all sang " Nearer, My God to Thee." " Taps " were sounded over the 

grave, and the services ended with prayer. 



WHEN THE GREAT GRAY SHIPS COME IN. 



WHEN THE GREAT GRAY SHIPS COME IN. 

By Guy Wetmore Carryl. 

a"AO eastward ringing, to westward winging, o'er mapless miles of sea> 
On winds and tides the gospel rides that the furthermost isles are 
free, 

And the furthermost isles make answer, harbor, and height, and hill, 
Breaker and beach cry each to each, " 'Tis the Mother who calls ! Be still ! " 
Mother ! new-found, beloved, and strong to hold from harm, 
Stretching to these across the seas the shield of her sovereign arm, 
Who summoned the guns of her sailor sons, who bade her navies roam, 
Who calls again to the leagues of main, and who calls them this time home ! 

And the great gray ships are silent, and the weary watchers rest, 

The black cloud dies in the August skies, and deep in the golden west 

Invisible hands are limning a glory of crimson bars, 

And far above is the wonder of a myriad wakened stars ! 

Peace ! As the tidings silence the strenuous cannonade, 

Peace at last ! is the bugle-blast the length of the long blockade, 

And eyes of vigil weary are lit with the glad release, 

From ship to ship and from lip to lip it is " Peace! Thank God for peace ! " 

Ah, in the sweet hereafter Columbia still shall show 

The sons of these who swept the seas how she bade them rise and go ; 

How, when the stirring summons smote on her children's ear, 

South and North at the call stood forth, and the whole land answered 
» Here ! » 

For the soul of the soldier's story and the heart of the sailor's song 
Are all of those who meet their foes as right should meet with wrong, 
Who fight their guns till the foeman runs, and then, on the decks they trod, 
Brave faces raise, and give the praise to the grace of their country's God ! 

Yes, it is good to battle, and good to be strong and free, 
To carry the hearts of the people to the uttermost ends of sea, 
To see the day steal up the bay where the enemy lies in wait, 
To run your ship to the harbor's lip and sink her across the strait : — 
But better the golden evening when the ships round heads for home 
And the long gray miles slip swiftly past in a swirl of seething foam, 
And the people wait at the haven's gate to greet the men who win ! 
Thank God for peace ! Thank God for peace, when the great gray ships 
come in 1 



3i8 



AMERICAN PATRIOTISM IN WAR. 



AMERICAN PATRIOTISM IN WAR 



The Loyalty that Guards with Unconquerable Courage the National 

Banner, 

By Cakx Schurz. 

WHATEVER Spain may think as to her honor, whether it be 
satisfied or not, it is clear that neither in courage nor in intelli- 
gence are her navy and army capable of coping successfully 
with the sailors and soldiers of the United States. These 
have added new names to the list of our national heroes, and new 
glories to our constellation of victories. It has been the fashion to 
say that long years of peace and commercialism have sapped the 
spiritual virtues of our people, and that so engrossed have we been in the 
arts of money-making, so corrupted have we become in consequence of the 
partnership which interested persons have succeeded in establishing between 
the government and private business interests, that the war spirit and the 
war courage have gone out of our blood. It was the habit of the superficial 
diplomats which the continental nations of Europe are accustomed to send 
to Washington to sneer at us, as the French have sneered at the English, as 
a nation of " shopkeepers," and immediately before the breaking out of the 

present war these gentlemen filled the drawing: rooms of the 
The Prophets of r 8 . , i 8 , 

Cowardice. capital with the prediction that there would be no war, 

because the Yankees were too fond of money to fight. 

But the prophets of cowardice are now seeing their mistake, just as the 

French ought to have recognized their mistake long ago on the field of 

Waterloo. 

The American people in arms are fighting as they have always fought, 
and as they will probably continue to fight whenever they make or accept 
war. In this war they have already given abundant evidence of a wonderful 
morale, a steadiness of heart, a coolness of head, and, above all, of a fervid 
patriotism. On sea and land these men of arms of ours have gone into 
action with the dash, the discipline, and the cautiousness of old campaigners. 
Only once has there been a question raised as to the self-possession or self- 
restraint of any of our men who have met the enemy, and that in the battle 
of Sevilla Heights, where there may have been a little recklessness and a 
too eager push forward, not at all surprising when we consider the freshness 



AMERICAN PATRIOTISM IN WAR. 



3^9 



of the command and the eagerness shown by both officers and men to fight. 
But, on the other hand, there was so much glory won in that hard struggle 
by and for those who were in it, for the American name, for all of us, that 
the excess of enthusiasm, if there was any, is worthy of mention only to 
forestall a criticism that might be invited by what would appear as too lib- 
eral praise to such minds as often miss the splendor of a perfect night in 
their analysis of the revelations of a spectroscope. We owe this explanation 
to the " Rough Riders " who fought in those fearful woods where bullets 
rushed from mysterious shadows, because we would not by any apparent 
minuteness of ignorance on our part have their demerits discussed by ctitics 
who might be silent were they warned in advance that slight spots on a 
glorious life are invisible, not only to the generous, but to the truly appre- 
ciative eye. From Manila to Guantanamo and Sevilla Heights our sailors 
and soldiers have done their duty in obedience to skillful and altogether 
worthy officers. Dewey's entrance into the harbor of 
Manila was itself one of those splendid examples of intel- Brave TTm'crity 
ligent and brave temerity that mark the men capable of 
them as the geniuses of war. The deed of courage which was performed b^ 
Hobson and his men is but a conspicuous example of the conduct of our sea 
and land forces on every" occasion that has been presented to them. The 
cable-cutting at Cardenas and elsewhere, the reconnoissances under fire, the 
eagerness manifested by every one of our fighting souls — all these, physical, 
intellectual and spiritual, make the .sinking of the " Merrimac " part of a 
great drama which lifts up the heart and head of every American citizen. 

For, believe as we may have done concerning the wisdom of the war, 
this eager courage to carry the flag into the heart of an enemy's country, to 
plant it above his sinking ships and his crumbling forts, 

this rush after the colors to the very death, this reckless- 1 " 1 !? Fus,n s of Manv 

J . . Races Into One. 

ness of life, this wonderful enthusiasm and joy in battle, 

are the phenomena of a deep and abiding patriotism, of a love of country 
as strong and as hot as that which ever possessed any people in this nineteen- 
century-old world. We will go further than this, for our belief is that this 
love of country is more generally felt, more widely distributed, here than in 
any other land in the modern world. The American citizen, whether he be 
born of English forebears or not, whether he be born here or elsewhere, is 
defending his own political power, is vindicating his own right to exercise 
political power, when he arms himself for the defence of his government. 
This heterogeneous race of what our delightful and courteous foes call 
" Yankee pigs " is not so heterogeneous when the real meaning and char- 
acter of the republic are considered. We may not be men of one blood, but 



32o 



AMERICAN PATRIOTISM IN WAR. 



we are men of one mind. We may have been born under despotisms or 
constitutional monarchies or pretended republics, but we live in a true 
republic, we possess a democracy, and it is as certain as that men will con- 
tinue to be governed, that our democracy will remain regnant, because both 
those who are the offspring of the men who established it on the basis of 
the English democracy, and those who have come under its benignant 
power, who grow in grace by means of its kindly developing force, will 
always insist on its maintenance. 

These people of different origins have a common purpose and a common 
destiny, and each man thinking himself worthy of the company of kings is 
not only more self-respectful and more self-confident than 

A Patriotism subject people, even when these have the most glorious 
Sufficient For Any t. . P r \ . , , , . . , ? , " 

Emergency. traditions lor the nourishment of their national pride, but 

necessarily has also more respect and love for the govern- 
ment of which he is part, which has been so rich in performance for him, 
and is so rich in promise for his descendants. This nation does not receive 
its character from the parents of its citizens, but from the institutions which 
have filled the world with the glory of English-speaking peoples ; which 
have brought liberty into the cottage, and have applied the limitations and 
restraints of the golden rule to the palace ; which have put the people's 
happiness above the prince's profit; which have established a common 
justice for the ruler and the ruled ; and which have prospered humanity by 
unshackling the genius of the individual. These institutions and the 
aspirations that are born of them make America and Americans ; and when 
the government, which is the creature and defender of these institutions, 
demands the service of its people, it addresses the patriotism of men who 
love it as they love themselves and their families. The old world never 
made a greater mistake than in supposing that the republic does not have 
the love of its own rulers because the grandfathers of many of the rulers 
were not born here. Its cynics and its false prophets are learning the truth 
now — learning that the patriotism of America is such that, when the direful 
occasion comes, the citizen becomes an energetic, courageous and intelligent 
soldier, the like of whose associated qualities cannot be found in European 
armies. This is the great truth shown by the war, a revelation which may 
work wonders in a world ready for almost any teaching of democracy. And 
all who love America for the virtues which are hers, and for the virtues 
which she breeds, will never wish her less of patriotism in war, but always 
more of the patriotism resting on the broad foundations of her peaceful and 
habitual achievements. 



SONG OF THE 13-INCH. 



SONG OF THE 13-INCH. 

By J. H. Bates, Jr. 

I COME of a fighting race. 
You should see my family-tree, 
With never a break when you come to trace 
From " Mons Meg " down to me — 
From old " Mons Meg " with his hoop-bound side, 

That shook to his bombarde song, 
When he said to the foemen at Norham, " Bide — 
To me, with my well-wrought, toughened hide, 
And my belly lean and long." 

I grin with the grin of death 

That spins from my iron lips — 
Bluff joy, with a roar of my pregnant breath, 

To bite at the steel-clad ships — 
To bite at the ships in the lust of blood, 

As I whip them over the sea, 
And fence them in with the spouting scud, 
And scatter them over the littered flood, 

Till they dip their rags to me. 

I hunger — ere yet I teach — 

Feed me not of the loam — 
I feed to the snap of the locking breech 

That slides the greased shell home. 
That slides it home — then, in mad desire, 

I speed it far and true, 
While my mouth is ringed with the dripping fire, 
And the crumbling cities feel my ire, 

As I search them through and through. 

I come of a fighting stock. 

On the word of my father Thor ! 
'Tis well for my friends— but the foes that mock, 

I whelm in the throes of war — 
I whelm in the throes of war, and they fall, 

Fleets and cities and men. 



3? 



SOME THRILLING DREAMS 



Yet my time may come — let it be a call, 
To the wildest, wickedest fight of all, 
Far out, beyond all ken ! 

Shivered, crippled and spent, 

Twain on a hopeless sea, 
Dying, each firm in a fell intent, 

Grim, set on victory — 
Grim, set, to the end. In the waning light 

As the last, last daylight dies, 
The flare of the holocaust's awful blight, 
Or the cold, gray water's gulping night, 

And — the clean-swept billow's rise. 

I come of a fighting race. 

You should see my family-tree, 
With never a break when you come to trace 

From " Mons Meg " down to me — 
From old " Mons Meg " with his hoop-bound side, 

That shook to his bombarde song, 
When he said to the foemen at Norham, " Bide — 
To me, with my well-wrought, toughened hide, 

And my belly lean and long." 



SOME THRILLING DREAMS* 

Sleep Visions of Soldiers Anticipating a Fight. 

By Frederick Remington. 

AT the place far from Washington where the gray, stripped warships 
swung on the tide, and toward which the troop-trains were hurrying, 
there was no thought of peace. The shore was a dusty, smelly bit of 
sandy coral, and the houses in this town are built like snare-drums ; 
they are dismal thoroughly, and the sun makes men sweat and wish to God 
they were somewhere else. 

But the men in the blue uniforms were young, and Madame Beaulieu, 
who keeps the restaurant, strives to please, so it came to pass that I attended 



SOME THRILLING DREAMS. 



323 



one of these happy-go-lucky banquets. The others were artillery officers, 
men from off the ships, with a little sprinkle of cavalry and infantry, just 
for salt. They were brothers, and yellow-jack — hellish heat — bullets, and 
the possibility of getting mixed up in a mass of exploding iron, had been 
discounted long back in their schoolboy days, perhaps. Yet, they were not 
without sentiment, and were not even callous to all these, as will be seen, 
though men are different and do not think alike — less, even, when they 
dream. 

" Do you know, I had a dream last night," said a naval officer. 
"So did I." 

" So did I, " was chorused by the others. 

" Well, well ! " I said. " Tell your dreams. Mr. H , begin." 

" Oh, it was nothing much. I dreamed that I was rich and old, and had 
a soft stomach, and I very much did not want to die. It was a curious sort 
of feeling, this very old and rich business, since I am neither, nor even now 
do I want to die, which part was true in my dream, 

" I thought I was standing on the bluffs overlooking the Nile. I saw 

people skating, when suddenly numbers of hippopotami-— great masses 

of them — broke up through the ice and began swallowing 

the people. This was awfully real to me. I even saw Swallowed b Y 
r r Hippopotami. 

Mac there go down one big throat as easily as a cocktail. 
Then they came at me in a solid wall. I was crazed with fiear — I fled. I 
could not run ; but coming suddenly on a pile of old railroad iron, I quickly 
made a bicycle out of two car-wheels, and flew. A young hippo, more agile 
than the rest, made himself a bike also, and we scorched on over the desert. 
My strength failed ; I despaired and screamed — then I woke Up. Begad, 
this waiting and waiting in this fleet is surely doing things to me \ " 

The audience laughed, guyed, and said let's have some more- dreams, 
and other things. This dream followed the other things, and he who told 
it was an artilleryman : 

" My instincts got tangled up with one of those Key West shrimp sal- 
ads, I reckon ; but war has no terrors for a man who has been through my 
last midnight battle. I dreamed I was superintending two big 12-inch guns 
which was firing on an enemy's fleet. I do not know where this was. We 
got out of shot, but we seemed to have plenty of powder. The fleet kept 
coming on, and I had to do something, so I put an old superannuated ser- 
geant in the gun. He pleaded, but I said he was old, the case was urgent, 
it did not matter how one died for his country, etc. — so we put the dear old 
sergeant in the gun and fired him at the fleet. Then the battle became hot. 
I loaded soldiers in the guns and fired them out to sea, until I had no more 



SOME THRILLING DREAMS. 



soldiers. Then I began firing citizens. I ran out of citizens. But there 
were Congressmen around somewhere there in my dreams, and though they 
made speeches of protest to me under the five-minute rule, I promptly 
loaded them in, and touched them off in their turn. The fleet was pretty 
hard-looking by this time, but still in the ring. I could see the foreign sail- 
ors picking pieces of Congressmen from around the breech-blocks, and the 
officers were brushing their clothes with their handkerchiefs. . I was about 
to give up, when I thought of the Key West shrimp salad. One walked 
conveniently up to me, and I loaded her in. With a last convulsive yank 
I pulled the lock-string, and the fleet was gone with my dream." 

" How do cavalrymen dream, Mr. ? " was asked of a yellow-leg. 

u Oh, our dreams are all strictly professional, too. I was out with my 
troop, being drilled by a big fat officer on an enormous horse. He was very 
red-faced, and crazy with rage at us. He yelled like one of those siren- 
whistles out there in the fleet. 

" He said we were cowards and would not fight. So he had a stout 

picket-fence made, about six feet high, and then, forming us in line, he said 

no cavalry was any good which could be stopped by any 

J^ a » C ^l?,? el obstacle. Mind you, he yelled it at us like the siren. He 
With Red Wings. , . - ' / 

said the Spaniards would not pay any attention to such 
cowards. Then he gave the order to charge, and we flew into the fence. We 
rode at the fence pell-mell — into it dashed our horses, while we sabred and 
shouted. Behind us now came the big colonel — very big he was now, with 
great red wings — saying, above all the din, 4 You shall never come back — 
you shall never come back ! ' and I was squeezed tighter and tighter by him 
up to this fence until I awoke ; and now I have changed my cocktail to a 
plain vermouth." 

When appealed to, the infantry officer tapped the table with his knife 
thoughtfully : " My dream was not so tragic ; it was a moral strain ; but I 
suffered greatly while it lasted. Somehow I was in command of a company 
of raw recruits, and was in some trenches which we were constructing under 
fire. My recruits were not like soldiers — they were not young men. They 
were past middle age, mostly fat, and many had white side whiskers after the 
fashion of the funny papers when they draw banker types. I had a man 
shot, and the recruits all got around me ; they were pleading and crying to be 
allowed to go home. 

" Now I never had anything in the world but my pay, and am pretty 
well satisfied as men go in the world, but I suppose the American does not 
breathe who is averse to possessing great wealth himself ; so when one man 



SOME THRILLING ftREAMS. 



325 



said he would give me $1,000,000 in gold if I would let him go, I stopped 
to think. Here is where I suffered so keenly. I wanted the million, but I 
did not want to let him go. 

" Then these men came up, one after the other, and offered me varying 
sums of money to be allowed to run away — and specious arguments in favor 

of the same. I was now in agony. it ! that company was worth 

nearly a hundred million dollars to me if I would let them take themselves 
off. I held out, but the strain was horrible. Then they began to offer me 
their daughters — they each had photographs of the most beautiful American 
girls — dozens and dozens of American girls, each one of which was a 1 peach.' 
Say, fellows, I could stand the millions. I never did ' gig ' on the money, 
but I took the photographs, said ' Give me your girls, and pull your freight!' 
and my company disappeared instantly. Do you blame a man stationed in 
Key West for it — do you, fellows ? " 

" Not by a dinged sight ! " sang the company, on its feet. 

" Well, you old marine, what did you dream ? " 

" My digestion is so good that my dreams have no red fire in them. I 
seldom do dream ; but last night, it seems to me, I recall having a wee bit of 
a dream. I don't know that I can describe it, but I was looking very 
intently at a wet spot on the breast of a blue uniform coat. I thought they 
were tears — woman's tears. I don't know whether it was a dream or whether 
I really did see it." 

" Oh, confound your dreams ! " said the doctor. " What is that bloody 
old Congress doing from last reports ? " 



326 A FRIGHTFUL, EXPERIENCE. 

A FRIGHTFUL EXPERIENCE, 



The Awful Sensations of a Naval Encounter Graphically Described* 

By A Former Naval Officer. 

THE feelings of the men and the scenes in the hour of battle on a 
modern warship present a large field to the imaginative. As the 
enemy is perceived on the horizon the ship is cleared for action ; 
boats and everything wooden that might cause the terrible splinters 
are cast overboard, and the men are summoned to quarters. The gigantic 
monster of steel throbs like a living heart as ponderous engines drive her 
through the foam-capped waves. " The swash of waters as the leviathan 
plunges onward with a fearful energy, the sharp commands of the officers, 
the rush of men to their positions, stand out in memory forever afterward. 

All eyes are on the little speck in the distant horizon, each moment 
growing larger and larger, whose outline, barely traced at first, finally looms 
up grim and foreboding. Silently she approaches, plowing straight ahead, 
as if no opponent barred her path. Three miles separate them now. The 
silence grows oppressive ; the strain is fearful ; great beads of sweat stand 
out on the foreheads of the men in the turrets, immovable as statues beside 
the gigantic guns. Silently, speedily and majestically the antagonists 
approach each other. But two miles separate them now. 

Hark ! A terrific roar resounds over the billowy waves ; the approaching 
ship is blotted out in an instant by a cloud of smoke. We breathe freer ; 

the strain is over now ; the battle has begun. L,ike pieces 

c oaro f machinery the men in the two broadside turrets move 
Big Guns. J 

to their respective duties. A fearful shock shakes the 
gigantic ship from stem to stern ; a roar that deafens bursts forth ; a cloud of 
stifling powder permeates the decks ; a great sigh of relief goes up from 
every man ; we are answering shot with shot now. The blood rushes fever- 
ishly through the veins ; which fill up as if to burst , the eye shines clear and 
fierce, and a strange ecstasy steals over every man. The swash of the waters, 
the sharp words of command, the torrid breathing of the engines suddenly 
breaks forth again — only in a flash to be drowned by constant roar. The 
smaller guns have opened ; we have approached within a mile ; the sharp 
crack of the rifles of the sharpshooters is not perceptible in the general din, 
but we feel, with a strange confidence in ourselves, that they are there. 



A FRIGHTFUL EXPERIENCE. 



327 



Mechanically each man works on at his post. A shock, slight but 
perceptible, runs through the ship. We have been struck, a great shot has 
plowed its way through the vessel. Bleeding men are hurried to the 
hospital ; the dead are cast aside to make room for the living. A shell 
strikes the armor and explodes, doing little damage ; another follows and 
enters the ship ; men fall with a startled cry, then lie silent ; others writhe 
in terrible agony. The men at the light, unprotected guns are ordered to 
desert them ; the men behind the armor are safe enough as yet — bruised and 
blackened, but safe. All the unprotected armor of the ship has been blown 
to pieces now ; the wreckage of the top-hammer is slowly blocking the guns ; 
fire begins to break out here and there ; the water is pouring in through 
large rents in the hull. 

Deep down in the ship are the heroes who»only know that the battle is 
raging by the roar of the guns. Suddenly the electric lights go out ; a shot 
has disabled the dynamo, and ill-smelling oil lamps alone pierce the fearful 
darkness. It becomes suffocating and the men gasp for air ; inferno can be 
no worse. They know the funnels have been shot away, but the torrid, fetid 
atmosphere must be endured the best it can. Even in the heat of battle we 
notice now a slacking in the speed of our vessel. A feeling of anxiety 
seizes us, and the begrimed features about us seem to increase the uncertainty. 
How long have we been fighting ? Only an hour. 

The devastation grows more appalling ; we are not answering the enemy 
gun for gun now. The ammunition supply is growing dangerously small. 
What, a great monster like this only able to carry ammu- 
nition for two hours of battle? Question treads on ques- J h * t H °I ror ^ of 

^ ^ Battle Smoke. 

tion in the mind ; doubt piles on doubt. How long have 

we been fighting now ? Only thirty minutes longer. Why, we are scarce 
moving now. This is fearful ; we feel that it cannot last much longer; 
we begin to wish it was all over ; only discipline keeps us in our places. 
Why don't we do something — anything to end this terrible suspense? 

The smoke begins to clear away. Ah, there she is, that terrible instru- 
ment of destruction. She is going to ram us, sink us as we lie helpless in 
the trough of the sea ! How big she is, how grim and forbidding. Are we 
to stay here and drown like rats in a trap? " Steady, men, steady," rever- 
berates through the ship ; the word of command alone holds those trained 
to obey. Strange, almost nude, begrimed, hardly human figures rush out 
of the ship's depths, take a frightened glance at the giant now scarce two 
hundred yards away, then leap into the waves in a vain endeavor to save 
themselves. 



328 



THE EAGLE'S SONG. 



Why do I stay here ? Only discipline keeps me here, a discipline that 
cannot last a minute longer ; the minute that means my life. No, I will go 
down with the ship ; a sailor's grave will be mine. I would rather die like 
a hero than a coward. There she is now. Why doesn't she strike us ? She 
can't miss us now. 

What was that? Are we sinking? A great shock runs through the 
ship ; she is lifted on top of a wave, and, tossing wildly, goes down, down, 
down. Why don't we sink? The air clears. 

Is this death? Am I drowning? Is it a dream? Where is that grim, 
foreboding spectre? I can't see her. Gigantic and all powerful, she has 
disappeared entirely ; there only remains a handful of men struggling for 
life on the waves. 

What's that you say ? Torpedo ? A deep-drawn sigh of relief ; a feel- 
ing that life is indeed dear creeps over you. Numbed you hear the jubilant 
voice of the junior officer. "The old man was just laying for her; he's a 
sly old sea-dog." 

And somehow you vaguely feel that a great naval battle has been fought 
and won. 



THE EAGLE'S SONG. 

By Richard Mansfield. 

THE Lioness whelped and the sturdy cub 
Was seized by an eagle and carried up 
And homed for a while in an eagle's nest, 
And slept for a while on an eagle's breast, 
And the eagle taught it the eagle's song : 
" To be staunch and valiant and free and strong ! " 

The Lion whelp sprang from the eerie nest, 
From the lofty crag where the Queen birds rest ; 
He fought the King on the spreading plain, 
And drove him back o'er the foaming main. 
He held the land as a thrifty chief, 
And reared his cattle and reaped his sheaf. 
Nor sought the help of a foreign hand, 
Yet welcomed all to his own free land ! 



THE EAGLE'S SONG. 



Two were the sons that the country bore 
To the Northern lakes and the Southern shore, 
And Chivalry dwelt with the Southern son, 
And Industry lived with the Northern one. 

Tears for the time when they broke and fought! 
Tears was the price of the Union wrought ! 
And the land was red in a sea of blood, 
Where brother for brother had swelled the flood ! 

xAnd now that the two are one again, 
Behold on their shield the word — Refrain ! 
And the lion cub's twain sing the eagle's song : 
" To be staunch and valiant and free and strong ! 
For the eagle's beak and the lion's paw, 
And the lion's fangs and the eagle's claw, 
And the eagle's swoop and the lion's might, 
And the lion's leap and the eagle's sight 
Shall guard the Flag with the word " Refrain " 
Now that the two are one again ! 

Here's to a cheer for the Yankee ships ! 

And " Well done, Sam ! " from the mother's lips ! 



THE PEACH TREATY. 



THE PEACE TREATY. 



Full Text of the Agreement which Concluded Our War with Spain* 

THE Spanish-American war was practically terminated by the surrender 
of General Toral's forces at Santiago de Cuba on June 17 (1898), 
but the terms of final adjustment of all disputes were referred 
to commissioners, appointed by the respective governments of the 
United States and Spain, which held their sessions in Paris, where their 
labors were completed on December 10 ; and on the fourth day of January 
following the peace treaty, as agreed upon, was submitted to President 
McKinley and by him referred immediately to the Senate for action, and rati- 
fied by that body on February 6. 

The full text of this important instrument is as follows : * 

The United States of America and Her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain, in the name 
of her august son, Don Alfonso XIII. , desiring to end the state of war now existing between the 
two countries, have for that purpose appointed as plenipotentiaries: 
The President of the United States- 
William R. Day, Cushman K. Davis, William P. Frye, George Gray, and Whitelaw Reid, 
citizens of the United States; 

And Her Majesty the Queen Regent of Spain — 

Don Kugenio Montero Rios, President of the Senate; Don Buenaventura de Abarzuza, 
Senator of the Kingdom and ex-Minister of the Crown; Don Jose de Garnica, Deputy to the 
Cortes and Associate Justice of the Supreme Court; Don Wenceslad Ramirez de Villa Urrutia, 
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at Brussels, and Don Rafael Cerero, General 
of Division. 

Who, having assembled in Paris and having exchanged their full powers, which were found 
to be in due and proper form, have, after discussion of the matters before them, agreed upon 
the following articles : 

Article I. Spain relinquishes all claim of sovereignty over and title to Cuba. 

And as the island is, upon its evacuation by Spain, to be occupied by 
Relinquishment the United States, the United States will, so long as such occupation 
of Cuba. shall last, assume, and discharge the obligations that may, under inter- 

national law, result from the fact of its occupation for the protection 

of life and property. 

Article II. Spain cedes to the United States the island of Porto Rico and other islands 
now under Spanish sovereignty in the West Indies, and the island of Guam in the Marianas or 
Ivadrones. 

Article III. Spain cedes to the United States the archipelago known as the Philippine 
Islands and comprehending the islands lying within the following line : 

A line running from west to east along or near the twentieth parallel of north latitude and 
through the middle of the navigable channel of Bachi, from the one hundred and eighteenth 



THE PEACH TREATY. 



(118th) to the one hundred and twenty-seventh (127th) degree meridian of longitude east of 
Greenwich; thence along the one hundred and twenty-seventh ( 127th) degree of longitude east 
of Greenwich, to the parallel of four degrees and forty-five minutes (4°45 / ) north latitude to its 
intersection with the meridian of longitude one hundred and nineteen degrees and thirty-five 
minutes (no/^sO east °f Greenwich; thence along the meridian of longitude one hundred and 
nineteen degrees and thirty -five minutes (ii9°35 / ) east of Greenwich to the parallel of latitude 
seven degrees and forty minutes (7°4o / ) north; thence along the parallel of latitude seven degrees 
and forty minutes (7°4o / ) north to its intersection with the one hundred and sixteenth (116th) 
degree meridian of longitude east of Greenwich; thence by a direct line to the intersection 
of the tenth (10th) degree parallel of north latitude with the one hundred and eighteenth 
(118th) degree meridian of longitude east of Greenwich, and thence along the one hundred 
and eighteenth (118th) degree meridian of longitude east of Greenwich to the point of 
beginning. 

The United States will pay to Spain the sum of twenty million dollars ($20,000,000) within 
three months after the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty. 

Article IV. The United States will, for the term of ten years from 
the date of exchange of ratifications of the present treaty, admit Spanish A Payment of 
ships a,nd merchandise to the ports of the Philippine Islands on the same $20,000,000. 
terms as ships and merchandise of the United States. 

Article V. The United States will, upon the signature of the present treaty, send back to 
Spain, at its own cost, the Spanish soldiers taken as prisoners of war on the capture of Manila 
by the American forces. The arms of the soldiers in question shall be restored to them. 

Spain will, upon the exchange of the ratifications of the present treaty, proceed to evacuate 
the Philippines, as well as the Island of Guam, on terms similar to those agreed upon by the 
commissioners appointed to arrange for the evacuation of Porto Rico and other islands in the 
West Indies under the Proctocol of August 12, 1898, which is to continue in force till its provis- 
ions are completely executed. 

The time within which the evacuation of the Philippine Islands and Guam shall be com- 
pleted, shall be fixed by the two governments. Stands of colors, uncaptured war vessels, small 
arms, guns of all calibres, with their arms and accessories, powder, ammunition, live stock and 
materials and supplies of all kinds belonging to the land and naval forces of Spain in the 
Philippines and Guam, remain the property of Spain. Pieces of heavy 
ordnance, exclusive of field artillery, in the fortifications and coast What Spain May 
defences, shall remain in their emplacements for the term of six months, Retain, 
to be reckoned from the exchange of the ratifications of the treaty, and 

the United States may, in the meantime, purchase such material from Spain if a satisfactory 
agreement between the two governments on the subject shall be reached. 

Artici/E VI. Spain will, upon the signature of the present treaty, release all prisoners of 
war and persons detained or imprisoned for political offences in connection with the insurrection 
in Cuba and the Philippines and the war with the United States. 

Reciprocally, the United States will release all prisoners made prisoners of war by the 
American forces, and will undertake to obtain the release of all Spanish prisoners in the hands 
of the insurgents in Cuba and the Philippines. 

The Government of the United States will, at its own cost, return to Spain and the Govern- 
ment of Spain will, at its own cost, return to the United States, Cuba, Porto Rico and the 
Philippines, according to the situation of their respective homes, prisoners released or caused to 
be released by them, respectively under this article. 

Arttci^ VII. The United States and Spain mutually relinquish all claims for indemnity, 
national and individual, of every kind, of either government, or of its citizens or subjects 
against the other government, that may have arisen since the beginning of the late insurrection 
in Cuba and prior to the exchange of ratifications of the present treaty, including all claims for 
indemnity for the cost of the war. 



332 



THE PEACH TREATY. 



The United States will adjudicate and settle the claims of its citizens against Spain 
relinquished in this article. 

Article VIII. In conformity with the provisions of Articles L II and III of this treaty, 
Spain relinquishes in Cuba and cedes in Porto Rico and other islands in the West Indies, in the 
islands of Guam and in the Philippine archipelago, all the buildings, 
Public Property wharves, barracks, forts, structures, public highways and other immova- 

Relinquished. ble property which in conformity with law belong to the public domain, 
and as such belong to the crown of Spain. 

And it is hereby declared that the relinquishment or cession, as the case may be, to which the 
preceding paragraph refers, cannot in any respect impair the property or rights which by law 
belong to the peaceful possession of property of all kinds, of provinces, municipalities, public 
or private establishments, ecclesiastical or civic bodies, or any other associations having legal 
capacity to acquire and possess property in the aforesaid territories renounced or ceded, or 
of private individuals of whatsoever nationality such individuals ma}- be. 

The aforesaid relinquishment or cession, as the case may be, includes all documents 
exclusively referring to the sovereignty relinquished or ceded that may exist in the archives in 
the peninsula. Where any document in such archives only in part relates to said sovereignt} 7 , a 
copy of such part will be furnished whenever it shall be requested. Like rules shall be recipro- 
cally observed in favor of Spain in respect of documents in the archives of the islands above 
referred to. 

In the aforesaid relinquishment or cession, as the case maybe, are also included such rights 
as the Crown of Spain and its authorities possess in respect of the official archives and records, 
executive as well as judicial, in the islands above referred to, which relate to said islands or the 
rights and property of their inhabitants. Such archives and records shall be carefully preserved, 
and private persons shall without distinction have the right to require, in accordance with law, 
authenticated copies of the contracts, wills and other instruments forming part of notarial 
protocols or files, or which may be contained in the executive or judicial archives, be the latter 
in Spain or in the islands aforesaid. 

Article IX. Spanish subjects, natives of the peninsular, residing in the territory over 
which Spain by the present treaty relinquishes or cedes her sovereignty, may remain in such 
territory or may remove therefrom, retaining in either event all their 
Rights of the rights of property, including the right to sell or dispose of such property 
Island Inhabitants, or of its proceeds; and they shall also have the right to carry on their 
industry, commerce and professions, being subject in respect thereof to 
such laws as are applicable to other foreigners. 

In case they remain in the territory, they may preserve their allegiance to the Crown of 
Spain by making before a court of record, within a year from the date of the exchange of 
ratification, of their decision to preserve such allegiance; in default of which declaration they 
shall be held to have renounced it and to have adopted the nationality of the territory in which 
they may reside. 

The civil rights and political status of the native inhabitants of the territories hereby 
ceded to the inhabitants of the United States, shall be determined by the Congress. 

Article X. The inhabitants of the territories over which Spain relinquishes or cedes her 
sovereignty, shall be secured in the free exercise of their religion. 

Article XL — The Spaniards residing in the territories over which Spain by this treaty 
cedes or relinquishes her sovereignty shall be subject in matters civil as well as criminal to the 
jurisdiction of the courts of the country wherein they reside, pursuant to the ordinary laws 
governing the same; and they shall have the right to appear before such courts and to pursue 
the same course as citizens of the country to which the courts belong. 

Article XII. Judicial proceedings pending at the time of the exchange of ratifications of 
this treaty in the territories over which Spain relinquishes or cedes her sovereignty, shall be 
determined according to the following rules: 



THK PEACE TREATY. 



333 



1. Judgments rendered either in civil suits between private individuals or in criminal 
matters, before the date mentioned, and with respect to which there is no recourse of right of 
review under the Spanish law, shall be deemed to be final, and shall be executed in due form 
by complete authority in the territory within which such judgments should be carried out. 

2. Civil suits between private individuals, which may on the date mentioned be undeter- 
mined, shall be prosecuted to judgment before the court in which they may then be pending or 
in the court that may be substituted therefor. 

3. Criminal actions pending on the date mentioned before the Supreme Court of Spain 
against citizens of the territory which by this treaty ceases to be Spanish, shall continue under 
its jurisdiction until final judgment; but such judgment having been 

rendered the execution thereof shall be committed to the competent Reservations 
authority of the place in which the case arose. Respecting Legal 

Artici^ XIII. The rights of property secured by copyrights and Proceedings, 
patents acquired by Spaniards in the island of Cuba and Porto Rico, the 

Philippines and other ceded territories at the time of the exchange of the ratification of this 
treaty, shall continue to be respected. Spanish scientific, literary and artistic works, not to 
subversive of public order in the territories in question, shall continue to be admitted free of 
duty into such territories for the period of ten years, to be reckoned from the date of the 
exchange of the ratification of this treaty. 

ArTici^ XIV. Spain will have the power to establish consular offices in the ports and 
places of the territories, the sovereignty over which has either been relinquished or ceded by 
the present treaty. 

Article XV. The government of each country will, for the term of ten years, accord to 
the merchant vessels of the other country the same treatment in respect of all port charges, 
including entrance and clearance duties, light dues and tonnage duties, as it accords to its own 
merchant vessels not engaged in the coastwise trade. 

This article may at any time be terminated on six months' notice, given by either govern- 
ment to the other. 

Article XVI. It is understood that any obligations assumed in this treaty by the United 
States with respect to Cuba, are limited to the time of its occupancy thereof, but it will, upon 
the termination of such occupancy, advise any government established in the islands to assume 
the same obligations. 

ARTICUS XVII. The present treaty shall be ratified by the President of the United States, 
by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, and by her Majesty the Queen 
Regent of Spain; and the ratification shall be exchanged at Washington within six months 
from the date hereof, or earlier if possible. 

In faith whereof we, the respective plenipotentiaries, have signed this treaty and have 
hereunto affixed our seals. 

Done in duplicate at Paris, the tenth day of December, in the year of our Lord, one 
thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight. 



334 SOME INTERESTING STATISTICS OF THE WAR. 



SOME INTERESTING STATISTICS OF THE WAR. 

THE losses by the "Maine" explosion, February 15, 1898, were two 
officers and 264 men. At trie great naval engagement in Manila 
Bay, May 1, seven American seamen, all of the " Baltimore," were 
wounded, none fatally. At the bombardment of Cienfuegos, May 
11, we had one killed and eleven wounded. At Cardenas, on the same date, 
five were killed and three wounded. At the bombardment of San Juan, 
May 12, our casualties were one killed and seven wounded. In the two 
sharp fights at Guantanamo, June 11 and 20, we had six killed and sixteen 
wounded. When Santiago was bombarded, June 22, 
Casualties m the or jy one man wag ^^j e( j an ^ n [ ne were WO unded. In the 

great naval fight before Santiago, June 3, our losses were 
one killed and one wounded. One man on the auxiliary " Yankee " was 
wounded June 13, and a seaman of the "Eagle" was wounded July 12. 
One of the crew of the " Bancroft " lost his life July 2, and on the " Amphi- 
trite " one man was killed August 7. Making a total of all losses in the 
navy, during the war, nineteen killed and forty-eight wounded, of which 
latter number twenty-nine died of their injuries. During the time of hostili- 
ties the strength of the navy and marine corps was 26,102 officers and men, 
and the total deaths from disease during the 114 days was fifty-six. 

Nearly all our losses were sustained in the Santiago campaign, where 
twenty-three officers and 237 men were killed and ninety-nine officers and 
1,332 men were wounded. The casualties of the Porto Rico campaign were 

three men killed and four officers and thirty-six men 
Casualties in the woun d e d. In t ^ e campa i Rn f or the reduction of Manila 

Army. r fe 

seventeen men were killed and ten officers and ninety-six 
men were wounded. Our total losses from the beginning of hostilities until 
the truce following the signing of the protocol was thirty-three officers and 
257 men killed, 113 officers and 1,464 men wounded. The number of deaths 
in the army from disease during the same time was eighty officers and 2,485 
men. The total number of officers and men engaged in all branches of the 
land service was 274,717. 

Nearly all the arms captured from the Spaniards were taken at Santiago 
when General Jose Toral surrendered to General William 
an^Pr'e^Hng R ' Shafter > J ul ^ J 7 ' ^9°* Mauser rifles, 872 Argent rifles, 
the War. 6,1 18 Remington rifles, 833 Mauser carbines, 84 Argent car- 
bines, 330 Remington carbines, 75 revolvers, 30 bronze 
rifled cannon, 10 cast iron cannon, 8 steel cannon, 44 smooth-bore cannon ? 



SOME INTERESTING STATISTICS OF THE WAR. 335 



5 mortars. Of ammunition there was surrendered at the time 3,551 solid 
shot, 437 shrapnel, 2,577 shells ; and for small arms 1,471,200 rounds Mauser, 
1,500,000 rounds Argent, 1,680,000 rounds for carbines. 

In the engagement in Manila Bay, Dewey destroyed the cruisers " Reina 
Cristina," " Castilla," "Isla de Cuba," the " Ulloa," and the " General Lozo," 
and the gunboats "Jose Garcia," " Isla de Cuba," " Islade Luzon," " Duero," 
"Corres," " Velasco," " Mindanao," " Callao," " Leyte," 
" Sandoval," and " Manila." A few days later Dewey cap- S £aptured^and S 
tured the torpedo boat " Barcelona." Captures made by Destroyed, 
our blockading fleet in Cuban waters were the gunboats 
"Hernandez Cortez," u Vasco Nunez," " Alerta," " Pizarro," "Velasquez," 
"Ardilla," " Flecha," " Tradera," "Satellite," "Marguerite," "Virgin," 
"Ligera," "General Blanco," " Intrepida," " Cauto," "Alvarado," besides 
many merchant vessels. Of the several Spanish war vessels sunk in battles 
with our squadrons the following were raised, repaired and are now a part of 
the United States Navy : " Isla de Luzon," " Isla de Cuba," and " Reina 
Cristina," all cruisers, and the gunboats " Sandoval," " Callao," and "Min- 
danao." 

Generals have the same relative rank as admirals, but there is now no 
office of these grades, though they may soon be revived. 
The office of lieutenant-general and vice-admiral has also " e ! a "!L. Rank °! 

s Chief Officers of 

been abolished. Major-generals have the same rank as the Army and Navy, 
rear-admirals. Brigadier-generals have the rank of commo- 
dores. Colonels rank with captains. Lieutenant-colonels rank with com- 
manders. Majors rank with lieutenant-commanders. Captains rank with 
naval lieutenants. Lieutenants rank with ensigns. 

Relative rank, however, does not signify equality of salary, that of army 
officers being somewhat greater than the pay of ranking officers of the navy, 
because the latter are allowed prize money as rewards for victory, while the 
former, however valorous and triumphant, receive no such bounty. 

Following are major-generals of the regular and volunteer forces, 
January 1, 1899: Nelson A. Miles, general commanding, regular; Wesley 
Merritt, major-general, regular; John R. Brooke, major-general, regular; 
William R. Shafter, Joseph C. Breckenridge, Klwell S. Otis, John J. Graham, 
James F. Wade, John J. Coppinger, William M. Graham, Henry C. Merriam, 
promoted from the active list of brigadier-generals by nomination of the 
President, May 4, 1898; and the following civilians nominated at the same 
time to serve as major-generals during the war: Joseph H. Wheeler, from 
Alabama ; Fitzhugh Lee, from Virginia ; William J. Sewell, from New Jersey ; 
James H. Wilson, from Delaware. The annual salary of major-general is 



336 SOME INTERESTING STATISTICS OF THE WAR. 



$7,500, which sum is increased 10 per cent after each period of five years 
of service for twenty years. At retirement the pay is $5,625. Brigadier- 
generals receive $5,500 ; colonels, $3,500. 

George Dewey was promoted to the rank of Admiral, March 5, 1899, 
which is the highest office in the navy, corresponding to that of general of the 
army, which does not now exist. His salary is $13,500 per annum. 

The active list of rear-admirals is as follows : Winfield S. Schley, Wil- 
liam T. Sampson, John A. Howell, Frederick V. McNair, H. L,. Howison 
and Albert Kautz. 

The pay of naval officers is as follows : 

Rear-admirals, when at sea, receive $6,000; on shore, $5,000; on leave, 
waiting orders, $4,000 per annum. 

Commodores receive $5,000; onshore, $4,000; waiting orders, $3,000. 
Captains receive $4,500; on shore, $3,500; waiting orders, $2,800. 
Commanders receive $3,500; on shore, $3,000; waiting orders, $2,300. 
Although the war with Spain lasted only one hundred and fourteen 
days, it is estimated that the cost to the government was $150,000,000, of 
which $98,000,000 was paid out of the Treasury, to the time 
^wit^^a^n^ °^ s ^ n ^ n & the protocol, August 12. Beginning with March 
i, when the first increases in the expenditures in anticipa- 
tion of war became apparent in the daily expenditures of the Treasury, 
the actual disbursements on this account were approximately as follows : 



MARCH. 

Army $600,000 

Navy 2,400,000 



Total $3,000,000 

APRII,. 

Army $1,200,000 

Navy „ 9,800,000 



Total $11,000,000 

MAY. 

Army $12,000,000 

Navy ... 7,000,000 



Total $19,000,000 



JUNE. 

Army $16,500,000 

Navy 6,500,000 



Total $23,000,000 

JTJIvY. 

Army $29,500,000 

Navy 5,500,000 



Total $35,000,000 

TO AUGUST 13. 

Army $5,500,000 

Navy , 1,500,000 



Total $7,000,000 



Total charged to War Department $65,300,000 

Total charged to Navy Department 32,700,000 

Grand Total „ „ . '„ $98,000,000 



The appropriations made by Congress on account of the war aggregated 
about $360,000,000, and covered the time to January i, 1899. 



SOME INTERESTING STATISTICS OF THE WAR. 337 



PRINCIPAL VESSELS OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY. 



Name. 


Class. 


Construction 
Begun. 


Displacement. 


Speed in 
Knots. 


Horse-power. 


Cost. 


Main Battery. 


Secondary Battery. 


Iowa 


B. S. 


1893 


11,410 


16. 


11,000 


$3,010,000 


4 12-in. 


20 6-pdrs. rapid fire, 4 i-pd "s., 4 














8 8-in. 


Gatlings. 
















6 4-in. 






B. S. 


1891 


10,288 


15.60 


9,738 


3,020,000 


4*i3-in. 


20 6-pdrs. rapid fire, 6 1 pdrs., 4 














8 8-in. 


Gatlings. 
















4 6-in. 


Massachusetts . . 


B. S. 


1891 


10,288 


15. 


9,000 


3,020,000 


4 13-in. 


20 6-pdrs. rapid fire, 6 i-pdrs., 4 












8 8-in. 


Gatlings. 
















4 6-in. 




Oregon 


B. S. 


1891 


10,288 


*5" 


9,000 


3,180,000 


4 13-in. 


20 6-pdrs. rapid fire, 6 i-pdrs., 4 














8 8-in. 


Gatlings. 
















4 6-in. 




* Kearsarge . . . 


B. S. 


1896 


11,525 


16. 


10,000 


3, 150,000 


4 i3-in- 


14 5-in. rapid fire, 20 6-pdrs. , 6 
















4 8-m. 


i-pdrs., 4 Gatlings, 1 field gun. 


♦Alabama . . . . 


B. S. 


1896 


11,000 


16. 


10,000 


3,760,000 


4 13-in • 


16 6-pdrs., 4 i-pdrs., 4 Gatlings, 
















14 6-in. 


1 field gun, 


* Kentucky .... 


B. S. 


1896 


"025 


16. 


10,000 


3,150,000 


4 13-in. 


14 5-in., 20 6-pdrs., 6 i-pdrs., 4 














4 8-m. 


Gatlings, 1 field gun. 


* Illinois 


B. S. 


1896 


11,000 


16. 


10,000 


3,750,000 


4 i3-in. 


16 6-pdrs., 4 i-pdrs., 4 Gatlings, 
















14 6-in. 


1 field gun. 


♦Wisconsin . . . 


B. S. 


1896 


11,000 


16. 


10,000 


3,750,000 


4 13-in. 


16 6-pdrs., 4 i-pdrs., 4 Gatlings, 














14 6-in. 


1 field gun. 




B. S. 


1898 


12,500 


18. 


16,000 


3,500,000 


4 13-in. 


20 S-pdrs., 8 magazine guns. 
















14 6-in. 




♦Missouri .... 


B. S. 


1898 


12,500 


18. 


16,000 


3,500,000 


4 13-in. 


20 8-pdrs., 8 magazine guns. 
















14 6-in. 






B. S. 


1899 


12,500 


18. 


16,000 


3,500,000 


4 12-in. 


20 6-pdrs., 8 magazine guns. 
















16 6-in. 




Brooklyn 


A. C. 


1893 


9,271 


20. 


16,000 


2,986,000 


8 8-in. 


12 6-pdrs., 4 i-pdrs., 4 Gatlings. 
















12 5-in. 


















6 8-in. 




New York .... 


A. C. 


1890 


8,200 


21. 


17,401 


2,985,000 


12 4-in. 


8 6-pdrs., 4 i-pdrs., 4 Gatlings. 


Double-turret 


















Monitors. 






















1874 


3.990 


12. 


1,600 


3,178,000 


4 10-in. 


2 6-pdrs., 2 3-pdrs., 2 H. R. C, 2 
















2 4-in. 


i-pdrs. 






1S75 


6,060 


12.5 


3,7oo 


3,178,000 


4 12-in. 


6 6-pdrs., 4 Gatlings, 2 H. R. C. 




.... 


1SS9 


4,084 


13-5 


5,244 


1,028,950 


2 4-in. 
2 12-in. 


6 6-pdrs., 2 Gatlings, 4 i-pdrs. 
















2 10-in. 








1S74 


3.99° 


10.5 


1,426 


3,178,000 


4 10-in. 


2 6-pdrs., 2 3-pdrs., 2 i-pdrs. 






1874 


3,99° 


14-5 


3.000 


3,178,000 


4 10-in. 


2 6-pdrs., 2 3- pdrs., 2 H. R. C, 
















2 4-m. 


2 i-pdrs. 






1S74 


3,999 


12. 


1,600 


3,178,000 


4 10-in. 


2 6-pdrs., 2 3-pdrs., 2 Gatlings, 2 


















H. R. C. 






1899 


2,700 


12. 


1,500 


1,500,000 


4 12-in. 


3 6-pdrs., 4 i-pdrs. 
















4 4-in. 




Connecticut . . . 




1899 


2,700 


12. 


1,500 


1,500,000 


4 4-in. 


5 6-pdrs., 4 i-pdrs. 


Florida 




1899 


2,700 


12. 


1,500 


1,500,000 


4 4 in. 


5 6-pdrs., 4 i-pdrs. 






1899 


2,700 


12. 


1,500 


1,500,000 


4 4-in. 


5 6-pdrs., 4 i-pdrs. 


Baltimore .... 


P. C. 


1887 


4,413 


21. 


10,000 


1,325,000 


4 8-in. 


4 6-pdrs., 2 3-pdrs., 2 6-pdrs., 2 
















6 6-in. 


Gatlings, 4 H. R. C. 




P. c. 


1883 


3,000 


15-5 


4,030 


617,000 


6 6-in. 


2 6-pdrs., 4 3-pdrs., 4 i-pdrs., 2 
















2 8-in. 


Gatlings, 2 H. R. C. 


Albany 


P. c. 


1896 


3,500 


17-5 


5,000 


1,500,000 


6 6-in. 


27 4.7 in., 4 6-pdrs. 


New Orleans . . . 


P. c. 


1896 


3,5oo 


17-5 


5,000 


1,500,000 


6 6-in. 


27 4.7-in. 4 6-pdfe. 


Topeka 


P. c. 


1892 


1,800 


16. 


3,7oo 


1,000,000 


4 5-in. 


10 6-pdrs. 


Buffalo 


P. c. 


1891 


2.600 


16.5 


3,700 


1,200,000 


4 6-in. 


6 4-in., 6 3-in. 


Charleston .... 


P. c. 


1887 


3,73o 


18. 


6,660 


1,017,000 


2 8-in. 


4 6-pdrs., 2 3-pdrs., 2 i-pdrs., 4 
















6 6-in. 


H. R. C. 


Minneapolis . . . 


P. c. 


1891 


7,375 


23-5 


20,862 


2,690,000 


1 8-in. 


12 6-pdrs., 4 i-pdrs , 4 Gatlings. 














2 6-in. 


















8 4-in. 





♦ Building. 

22 



338 THE WAR'S COST AND ITS RESULTS. 



PRINCIPAL VESSELS OF THE UNITED STATES NAVY. — Continued. 









a 


a 












b 








Name. 


a 
e 

z 




Constructio 
Begun. 


Displaceme 


Speed in 
Knots. 


Horse-powe 


Cost. 






Main Batte 


Secondary Battery. 


Columbia 


p. 


G. 


1890 


7,375 


22.8 


18,509 


2,725 


,00c 


2 

8 


6-in. 


12 6-pdrs 


, 4 i-pdrs. 


, 4 Gatlings. 




















1 


4-in. 
8-in. 










p. 


C. 


1883 


4,5oo 


15. 


5,oS 4 


S89 


(OOC 


4 


8-in. 


q 6-pdrs., 


4 i-pdrs. 


, 2 Gatlings, 


















8 


6-in. 


IH.R. 


C. 






















2 


5-in. 








Cincinnati .... 


p. 


C. 


1890 


3,213 


19. 


10,000 


1,100 


.000 


1 


5-m. 


S 6-pdrs., 


2 i-pdrs., 


2 Gatlings. 






















6-1 n. 








Newark 


p. 


C. 


18S8 


4,098 


*9- 


8,869 


1,24s 


oc c 




6-in. 


4 6-pdrs., 


4 3-pdrs. 


4 Gatlings, 






















4 H. R. 


C. 




Olympia 


p. 


C. 


1891 


5.S70 


21.5 


I7.3I3 


1,796 


XX 


4 


8-in. 


14 6-pdrs. 


, 6 i-pdrs. 


4 Gatlings. 




















10 


5-in. 










p. 


c. 


1S89 


3,213 


*9- 


10,000 


1,100 


OOC 


10 


5-1 n. 


8 6-pdrs., 


4 i-pdrs., 


2 Gatlings. 


















I 


6-in. 








Philadelphia . . . 


p. 


c. 


188S 


4,324 


19-5 


8,815 


1,350 


300 


" 


6-in. 


4 6-pdrs., 


4 2-pdrs., 


4 Gatlings, 4 




















H. R. C 






San Francisco . . 


p. 


c. 


188S 


4,098 


19-5 


9.9 J 3 


1,428 


800 


12 


6.in. 


4 6-pdrs , 


4 3-P<lrs. 


, 2 i-ddrs., 4 




















Gathngs, 3 H. R. 


C. 



In addition to the principal vessels above described, the United States 
Navy comprises 24 torpedo-boats building, and 9 in service, and 16 torpedo- 
boat destroyers under construction; four cruisers, the "Detroit," "Marble- 
head," "Montgomery" and "Chesapeake;" 15 gunboats, 13 single-turret 
monitors, 1 dynamite cruiser, 1 ram, 1 second-class battleship, the " Texas," 
and nearly one hundred special and old naval vessels, a greater part of which, 
however, are hardly serviceable, except as training ships. 



THE WAR'S COST AND ITS RESULTS. 

OUR casualties in the war with Spain were astonishingly small, and if 
we disregard the claim that Providence protected our armies in 
their battles for humanity, the laws of chance seem to have been 
placed at defiance, and we marvel past all understanding. 
When Dewey won his memorable victory on May Day, not one of his 
men was killed, and only six were wounded ; in the destruction of Cervera's 
fleet only one life was lost ; but in the desperate charge of the Rough Ridefs 
and Tenth and First Cavalry, 16 were killed and 53 wounded ; and in the 
three days of battle about Santiago no fewer than 226 officers and men died 
on the field and 1,274 were wounded. 

In all, according to nearly complete lists in possession of the Army and 
Navy Departments on August 1 5, our casualties were : 



THK WAR'S COST AND ITS RKSUI/TS. 



339 



Navy — Killed, i officer and 18 men (including Cadet Boardman, 
accidentally shot at Cape San Juan, August 10) ; wounded, 3 officers and 
40 men. 

Ar'my — Killed, 23 officers and 231 men; wounded, 87 officers and 
1,316 men. 

Total American loss, 24 officers and 249 men killed ; 90 officers and 
1,356 men wounded. 

It will be remembered that at the battle of Gettysburg alone the losses 
on the Union side were 3,070 killed and 14,497 wounded, while in the twelve 
great battles of the Civil War no fewer than 23,468 Union soldiers were 
killed and 120,849 wounded. Although complete reports may somewhat 
increase the number of casualties, it may be safely asserted that never were 
results such as those of our war with Spain obtained with so small a loss of 
life. As to the enemy, their losses, even on the faith of their own statement, 
were several times (fully six times) greater than ours. 

It is gratifying to know that hostilities terminated with the Treasury in 
excellent condition, and that we could have embarked on another war 
without having any fear of running short of money to meet expenses. 

The sale of the war bonds was then increasing the Treasury balance 
every day; the proceeds of the War Revenue law had exceeded the most 
sanguine expectations, and the average receipts of the government for each 
business day were more than $1,500,000. In return for this outlay, our One, 
Hundred Days' War may claim to have done more for the advancement of 
liberty and civilization than hundreds of years had accomplished before it. 

It has ridden the West Indies and the Chinese seas of the 
The Results. incubus of Spanish medisevalism ; for the second time in 
our history monarchies have been taught a lesson in the 
treatment of their colonies, which it is of vital importance to them to take 
to heart ; and the Republic of the West now holds in the councils of the 
civilized world a place of eminence which the even tenor of her home- 
restricted policy had alone debarred her from occupying hitherto. It has 
freed Cuba, Porto Rico and the Philippines, and while winning for those 
countries the blessings of a free and enlightened form of government, it has 
secured valuable additions to our territory and to our commercial resources. 
But the war has not only widened our horizon, geographically and politi- 
cally ; its effects at home are such as probably no other cause could have 
produced so swiftly or so thoroughly. One grand, unbroken wave of patri- 
otism has swept over the land ; dormant seeds of national energy have 
received a new life ; the last lingering waifs of a disunited past have been 
buried forever ; the hey-day of the harvest will prove well worthy th§ 
labors and the cost of the ordeal that preceded its dawn. 



34° CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF OUR WAR WITH SPAIN. 



COMPLETE CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF OUR WAR 

WITH SPAIN. 



A.nd of the Last Insurrection of the Cubans in Their Brave Fight 

for Independence. 

1895. 

February 24. — Insurgents rose against Spanish tyranny in Santiago, Santa Clara and Matanzas 
provinces. 

March 4. — Governor-General proclaimed martial law in Santiago and Matanzas. Julio Sanguily, 
J. Aguirre and other suspected Cuban sympathizers arrested and incarcerated in Cabanas 
prison at Havana. 

March 8. — American mail steamship " Allianca " fired upon by Spanish gunboat. 

March 10. — First battle of the war at Los Negros between 1,000 Spanish, under General 
Garrich, aiid 700 Cubans, under Colonel Goulet. Spaniards defeated. Spanish rein- 
forcements airive from Porto Rico and 7,000 men from Spain. Field Marshal Martinez 
Campos appointed Captain-General to succeed Colleja, and sent to Cuba with 20,000 
troops. Martial law proclaimed over whole island. 

Ma^'cb 24. — Pitched battle at Jaraguana between 1,000 Spanish troops, under Colonel Araoz, and 
900 Cubans, under Amador Guerra. 

Maich 31. — Antonio Maceo, with Flor Crombet, Dr. Frank Agramonte, Jose Maceo and other 
officers, landed at Baiacoa with expedition from Costa Rico in British schooner " Honor." 
Schooner wrecked and captain killed by Spaniards. Latter attacked Maceo at Duaba, 
but were repulsed. Agramonte captured. Provisional government proclaimed by 
Maceo; Dr. Tomas Fstrada Palma, president;* Jose Marti, secretary-general, and General 
Maximo Gomez, military director and commander-in-chief. 

April 13. — General Maximo Gomez, Jose Marti and eighty companions arrived from Hayti and 
landed on the coast southwest of Cape Maysi. 

April 16. — Captain-General Campos landed with reinforcements at Guantanamo and 
issued proclamation pledging reforms. Spanish Cortes authorized government to raise 
600,000,000 pesetas ($120, 000,000) for war and decided to send 40,000 reinforcements. 

April 16-18. — Battles at and near Sabana de Jaibo. Cuban cavalry under Gomez defeated 
Colonel Bosch. 

April 21. — Battle of Ramon de las Jaguas; 100 Spaniards killed. 

April 29. — Jose Maceo ambuscaded 700 Spaniards at Arroyo Hondo; 150 Spaniards killed and 
heavy Cuban losses. 

May 6-14. — Raids and fights at Jobito and Cristo by Maceo; Spanish Lieutenant-Colonel Bosch 
killed. 

May 18. — Insurgent Convention elected Bartolome Masso president, Maximo Gomez general- 
in-chief, and Antonio Maceo commander-in-chief of the Oriental Division. 

May 19. — Jose Marti and party of 50 annihilated by Colonel Sandoval and 800 troops in a 
narrow pass; Gomez with reinforcements attempted to rescue Marti's body and was 
wounded; Cuban loss", 50 killed and 100 wounded. Dr. Tomas Estrada Palma elected to 
succeed Marti as delegate to the United States. 

May 20. — Colonel Lacret and Colonel Torres landed with filibustering expedition of 220 men 
from Jamaica. 



CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY 0# OUR WAR WITH SPAIN. 34 1 



June 2. — Gomez crossed trocha and entered province of Puerto Principe. 

June 5. — General Carlos RolofT's filibustering expedition, with 353 men, 1,000 rifles and 500 
pounds of dynamite, landed by tugboat " George W. Childs " near Sagua Lachico, in 
Santa Clara. 

June 12. — President Cleveland issued proclamation warning citizens against joining or aiding 

filibustering expeditions. 
June 18. — Province of Puerto Principe declared in a state of siege. 
June 27. — Captain-General Campos asked Cabinet for 14,000 fresh troops. 

July 1. — Campos established Moron-Jucara trocha to keep Gomez out of Santa Clara Province. 
July 13. — Captain-General Campos, at head of 1,500 troops, attacked but defeated by Cubans 

under Maceo near Valenzuela and compelled to retreat to Bayamo; Spanish General 

Santocildes and ^19 men killed; Cuban loss, 100 men. 
July 15. — Provisional Government formally constituted and a declaration of independence 

proclaimed. 

August 7. — Cuban Convention at Puerto Principe elected the following officers: Provisional 
President of the Republic of Cuba, General Bartolome Masso; Minister of the Interior, 
Marquis of Santa Lucia; Vice-President and Minister of War, General Maximo Gomez; 
Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Gonzalo de Quesada; General-in-Chief, General Antonio 
Maceo. 

August 31. — Spaniards defeated by 1,200 men under Jose Maceo, near Ramon de la Jaguas. 

September 23. — Constitution of Cuban Republic proclaimed by Congress of Delegates at Anton 
de Puerto Principe, and the following elected permanent officers of the government: 
President, Salvador Cisneros; Vice-President, Bartolome Masso; Secretary of War, Carlos 
Roloff; Commander-in-Chief, Maximo Gomez; Lieutenant-General, Antonio Maceo. 

October 2. — Maceo defeated superior force of 2,000 Spaniards at Mount Mogote. 

October 9. — Cuban loan of 15,000,000 pesos ($3,000,000) placed in Paris. 

October 10. — Barracoa captured by Cubans. 

October 27. — General Carlos M. de Cespedes landed near Barracoa with filibustering expedition 
of sixty men, 100 rifles and 10,000 rounds of ammunition, fitted out in Canada. 
" Laurada " seized at Charleston, S. C, as a filibuster. 

November 18-19. — Spanish forces under Generals Valdes, Luque and Aldave defeated at 
Taguasco; Spanish loss, 500. 

December 26. — Gomez invaded the loyal Province of Havana. 

1896. 

January 5. — Gomez broke through Spanish intrenchments and raided Pinar del Rio. 

January 12. — Gomez defeated Spaniards at Batanobo and recrossed trocha into Havana Province. 

January 12-20. — Maceo raided Pinar del Rio Province. 

January 17. — Captain-General Campos recalled to Madrid and General Valeriano Weyler 

appointed to succeed him. 
January 26. — Filibuster "J. W. Hawkins," carrying General Calixto Garcia and 120 men, sunk 

off Long Island and ten men drowned. 
January 30. — Maceo recrossed Habana-Batabano trocha; Spaniards severely defeated by Diaz 

near Artemisia. 

February 10. — General Weyler arrived at Havana on the cruiser "Alfonso XIII." and was 

enthusiastically greeted. 
February 17. —Weyler issued three proclamations establishing rigid martial law. 
February 18. — Maceo attacked and captured Jaruco; the next day he joined Gomez, and together 

they marched eastward. 

February 22. — Eighteen non-combatants killed by Spanish troops in Punta Brava and Guatao, 
and two American correspondents who investigated outrage arrested. 



342. CHRONOLOGIC AI, HISTORY OF OUR WAR WITH SPAIN. 



February 24. — Filibuster "Bermuda" seized by United States marshals; General Garcia and 

others arrested, tried and acquitted. 
February 28.— Senate adopted belligerency resolutions and requested President to use " friendly 

offices" to secure Cuban independence. 

March 5.— Weyler issued proclamation offering amnesty to Cubans who surrendered with arms 

in hand. ; 

* » 

March 8. — Eighteen thousand Spanish reinforcements landed at Havana. 
March 12. — " Commodore " landed a filibustering expedition from Charleston. 
March 13. — Maceo captured the town of Batabano. 

March 15. — Maceo re-entered Pinar del Rio Province and attacked the town of Pinar del Rio. 
March 22.— Gomez captured the town of Santa Clara and secured a large amount of military 
stores. 

March 25. — "Bermuda" landed General Garcia with 125 men and arms in Cuba. "Three 
Friends " and " Mallory " landed a big expedition under General Collazo on the coast of 
Matanzas Province. 

April 6. — House of Representatives concurred in Senate's Cuban resolution. 

April 25. — American filibustering schooner " Competitor " captured off coast of Pinar del Rio. 
Alfredo Laborde and three Americans made prisoners. 

April 27. — " Bermuda" fired upon by Spanish gunboat while trying to land expedition under 
Colonels Vidal and Torres and forced to abandon the attempt. 

May 14. — Gomez captured a whole Spanish battalion under Colonel Segura. 

May 16. — " Laurada " landed General J. F. Ruiz and expedition in Cuba. 

May 29. — " Three Friends " landed large cargo of ammunition in Santa Clara. 

June 3. — Consul-General Fitzhugh Lee arrived at Havana as the successor of Ramon O. Will- 
iams, resigned. 

June 18. — Expeditions under Zarrago, Castillo and Cabrera landed by "Three Friends" and 
" Laurada." 

July 5. — Jose Maceo killed in an engagement at Loma del Gato. 

July 15. — General Inclan badly defeated by Maceo at Caracarajicara, 200 killed arid nearly 300 
wounded. 

July 30. — President Cleveland issued another proclamation against filibustering. 
August 15. — General Rabi defeated Spaniards near Bayamo, killing 200. 

December 7. — General Antonio Maceo and Francisco Gomez, son of the rebel commander-in- 
chief, were killed in an engagement with a Spanish detachment under Major Cirujeda, 
just after Maceo had succeeded in passing around the end of the Mariel trocha. Dr. 
Zertucha, the only member of the staff who escaped, was accused of treachery. He sur- 
rendered to the Spanish. 

December 15. — " Three Friends " tried to land a large expedition at the mouth of the San Juan 
River, on the south coast of Cuba, but was fired on by a Spanish gunboat and compelled 
to put to sea again with her party, setting them down on a desert Florida key, where 
they were rescued by ' ' Dauntless. ' ' 

December 20. — General Ruiz Rivera succeeded Maceo as commander-in-chief of the Cuban 
army of the West. 

December 28. — Julio Sanguilly was tried and sentenced to imprisonment for life on a charge of 

conspiring against the Spanish Government. 
December 31. — Filibuster "Commodore " sailed from Jacksonville with a small expedition for 

Cuba and sunk sixteen miles off the Florida coast. Most of the men were saved. 

1897. 

January 13. — Spaniards under General Segura attacked General Calixta Garcia at Gabuquito, 
and were repulsed with a loss of 300 killed and 400 wounded. 



CHRONOIyOGlCAl, HISTORY OF OUR WAR WITH SPAIN. 343 



February 4.— Queen Regent of Spain signed a decree instituting reforms in Cuba. 

February 21. — Secretary of State Olney directed Minister Taylor, at Madrid, to demand a full 

inquiry into the case of Dr. Ricardo Ruiz, who was murdered in prison, in Guanabacoa, 

by the Spaniards. 
March 4.— General Weyler returned to Havana. 
March 21. — Insurgents captured Holguin. 

March 28.— General Ruiz Rivera, who succeeded Antonio Maceo, was captured with 100 men 

at Cabezedas, by General Hermandez Velasco. 
March 30.— " Laurada " landed at Banes, on the north coast of Santiago, three dynamite guns, 

one Hotchkiss gun and a large quantity of ammunition. 
April 17. — Weyler declared that the province of Santa Clara and part of Puerto Principe were 

pacified. 

May 12. — Generals Calixto Garcia and Rabi defeated Spanish troops under General Lonos 

and compelled them to retreat on shipboard at Cabocoruz. 
May 17. — President McKinley sent a message to Congress suggesting an appropriation of 

|5o,ooo to relieve the distress of American citizens in Cuba. It was passed by Congress 

and signed May 24. 

June 21. ---General Weyler sailed from Havana for Santa Clara province, preceded by thirty-six 

battalions of infantry and strong forces of artillery and cavalry. 
June 27. — General Weyler reached the city of Santiago. 

November 10. — Marshal Blanco sent a cable to Senor de Lome, Spanish Minister at Washing- 
ton, announcing that extensive zones of cultivation had been marked out, rations issued 
to the reconcentrados, and promised that thereafter they would be fed and treated well. 

November 18. — Crew of the American schooner "Competitor" captured in 1896 and all sen- 
tenced to death were released. 

November 14. — General Blanco sent envoys to insurgent generals to induce them to lay down 
their arms. 

November 25. — Dr. Frank Agramonte, Thomas J. Sainz and other Americans imprisoned in 

Havana were released by Marshal Blanco. 
November 26. — Queen Regent of Spain signed royal decrees granting political and commercial 

autonomy to Cuba. 

December 2. — Bishop of Havana appealed for food for starving reconcentrados. 

December 9. — Antonio Rodriguez Rivera, an envoy sent by Blanco to bribe the insurgents, was 

hanged by the insurgent leader Kmilio Collazo. 
December 10. — Insurgents captured the seaport town of Caimahera. 

December 28. — President McKinley issued an appeal to the country to aid starving Cubans. 

1898. 

January 8. — A second appeal issued by President McKinley for contributions to aid suffering 
Cubans announced the co-operation of the American Red Cross Society. 

January 12. — Rioters instigated by volunteers in Havana made a demonstration against news- 
paper offices. 

January 17. — General Lee, in communications to the State Department, suggested that a ship 
be sent to protect Americans in Havana in the event of another riot. 

January 21. — General Castellanos with 2,600 troops raided Esperanza, the seat of the insurgent 
government in the Cubites Mountains. Government officials escaped. 

January 24. — Battleship " Maine " ordered to Havana for the purpose of resuming the friendly 
intercourse of our naval vessels in Cuban waters. 

January 25. — Battleship " Maine" arrived at Havana and moored at the government anchor- 
age. 



341 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF OUR WAR WITH SPAIN. 



January 25. — Filibuster steamer "Tillie" foundered in Long Island Sound; four men drowned. 
January 27. — Brigadier-General Aranguren was surprised and killed in his camp near Tapaste, 

Havana province, by Lieutenant-Colonel Benedicto with the Spanish Reina Battalion. 

He had recently put to death Lieutenant-Colonel Ruiz, who had brought him an offer 

of money from Blanco to accept autonomy. 
February 9. — Copy of a letter written by Dupuy de Lome attacking President McKinley, 

printed. Senor Dupuy de Lome admitted writing the letter, and his recall was demanded 

by the State Department. 
February 15. — Battleship "Maine " blown up in Havana harbor; 264 men and two officers 

killed. Spanish Minister De Lome sailed for Spain. 
February 16. — General Lee asked for a court of inquiry on the " Maine " disaster. 
February 17. — Captains W. T. Sampson and F. K. Chadwick, and Lieutenant-Commanders 

W. P. Potter and Adolph Marix, detailed as Naval Board of Inquiry. 
February 18. — Spanish warship " Vizeaya " arrived at New York harbor. 
February 21. — Naval court of inquiry arrived at Havana and began investigation. 
February 25. — " Vizeaya " sailed from New York for Havana. 
March 6. — Spain unofficially asks for Lee's recall. 

March 8. — $50,000,000 war fund voted unanimously by the House of Representatives. 
March 9. — War fund of $50, 000,000 passed unanimously by the Senate. 
March 12. — Government purchased Brazilian cruiser "Amazonas" and other ships abroad. 
March 14. — Spain's torpedo flotilla sailed for Cape Verde Islands. 

March 17. — Senator Redfield Proctor, in a speech to the Senate, told of the starvation and ruin 

he had observed in Cuba. 
March 21. — " Maine " Court of Inquiry finished its report and delivered it to Admiral Sicard 

at Key West. 
March 22. — " Maine " report sent to Washington. 

March 25. — "Maine" report delivered to the President, and officially announced that the 

" Maine " was blown up by a mine. 
March 26. — President McKinley sent two notes to Spain, one on the " Maine " report, and the 

other calling for the cessation of the war in Cuba. 
March 28. — President McKiuley sent the "Maine" report to Congress, with a brief message 

stating that Spain had been informed of the court's findings. 
March 28. — Report of the Spanish Court of Inquiry, declaring the " Maine " was destroyed by 

an interior explosion, was received in Washington. 
March 30. — President McKinley, through Minister Woodford, asked Spain for a cessation of 

hostilities in Cuba and negotiations for ultimate independence. 
March 31. — Spain refused to accede to any of President McKinley's propositions. 
April 1. — House of Representatives appropriated $22,648,000 to build war vessels. 
April 6. — Pope cabled President McKinley to suspend extreme measures pending the Vatican's 

negotiations with Spain. 
April 7. — Ambassadors of England, Germany, France, Italy, Austria and Russia appealed to 

the President for peace. 
April 9. — Spain ordered Blanco to proclaim an armistice in Cuba. 
April 9. — General Lee and American citizens left Havana. 

April 11. — President sent consular reports and message to Congress, asking authority to stop 

the war in Cuba. 
April 16. — United States Army began moving to the coast. 

April 19. — Both Houses of Congress adopted resolutions declaring Cuba free and empowering 

the President to compel Spain to withdraw her army and navy. 
April 20. — President McKinley signed the resolutions and sent his ultimatum to Spain, and the 

Queen Regent sent a warlike message to the Cortes. 



CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF OUR WAR WITH SPAIN. 345 



April 21. — Minister Woodford was given his passport. 

April 22. — The President issued his proclamation to the neutral powers, announcing that Spain 
and the United States was at war. Commodore Sampson's fleet sailed from Key West to 
begin a blockade of Havana. Gunboat " Nashville " captured the Spanish ship " Buena 
Veutura. ' ' 

April 23. — President issued a call for 125,000 volunteers. 

April 24. — Spain formally declared that war existed with the United States. 

April 25. — Commodore Dewey's fleet ordered to sail from Hong Kong for the Philippines. 

April 27. — Matanzas bombarded by the " New York," " Cincinnati " and " Puritan." 

April 30. — Admiral Cervera left the Cape Verde Islands for the West Indies. 

May 1. — Commodore Dewey defeated Admiral Montojo in Manila Bay, destroying eleven 

ships and killing and wounding more than five hundred of the enemy. American 

casualties, seven men slightly wounded. 
May 11. — Commodore Dewey promoted to be a rear-admiral. Attacks made on Cienfuegos 

and Cardenas, at which Ensign Worth Bagley and five of the " Winslow's " crew killed. 
May 11. — Admiral Cerverva's squadron sighted off Martinique. 

May 12. — Commodore Sampson bombarded San Juan, Porto Rico, but caused little damage. 
May 13. — The Flying Squadron, under Commodore Schley, left Hampton Roads for Cuban 
waters. 

May 17. — Cervera's fleet, after coaling at Curacoa, put into the harbor of Santiago de Cuba. 
May 22. — Cruiser " Charleston " sailed from San Francisco for Manila. 

May 24. — Battleship "Oregon " arrived off Jupiter Inlet, Fla., from her great trip from San 

Francisco, which she left March 12. 
May 25. — The President issued his second call for volunteers, 75,000. First Manila expedition 

left San Francisco. 

May 27. — Commodore Schley discovered that Cervera's fleet was in Santiago harbor and block- 
aded him. 

May 30. — Commodore Sampson's fleet joined Commodore Schley's. 
May 31. — Forts commanding the entrance to Santiago harbor bombarded. 

June 3. — Hobson and seven men sank the "Merrimac" in the channel entrance to Santiago 

harbor, and being captured were confined in Morro Castle. 
June 6. — Spanish cruiser "Reina Mercedes" sunk in the Santiago harbor entrance by the 

Spaniards to prevent ingress of American war vessels. 
June 11. — Body of marines landed at Guantanamo from the " Marblehead" and "Texas," and 

had a brisk skirmish. 

June 12-14. — General Shafter embarked at Tampa for Santiago with an army of 16,000 men. 
June 15. — Caimanera forts bombarded by our war ships. 

June 15. — Admiral Camara with a fleet often of Spain's best war ships left Cadiz for Manila. 
June 20-22. — General Shafter disembarked his army of invasion at Baiquiri, with a loss of one 

man killed and two wounded. 
June 21. — Angara, capital of Guam, one of the islands of the Ladrones, captured by the 

"Charleston." 

June 24. — Juragua captured and the Spanish were defeated at Las Guasimas. Heavy loss on 

both sides, among the Americans killed being Capron and Fish. 
June 28. — General Merritt left for Manila to assume command of the American army operating 

in the Philippines. 

July 1-2. — Terrific fighting in front of Santiago, and El Caney and San Juan were carried by 

assaults in which the American loss was great. 
July 3. — Admiral Cervera's squadron of four armored cruisers and two torpedo-boat destroyers 

annihilated by Commodore Schley's blockading fleet. The surrender of Santiago was 

demanded by General Shafter. 



346 CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF OUR WAR WITH SPAIN. 



July 6, — Hobson and his comrades were exchanged for six Spanish officers. 

July 8. — Admiral Camara was ordered to return with his fleet to Cadiz to protect Spanish coast 
threatened by American warships. 

July io. — A second bombardment of Santiago, which severely battered Morro Castle. 

July ii. — General Miles joined the American Army before- Santiago and conferred with-, 
General Shafter as to the means for reducing the city. 

July 17. — After the expiration of two periods of truce General Toral surrendered Santiago and 
the eastern province of Cuba to General Shafter. 

July 20. — General Leonard Wood was appointed Military Governor of Santiago, and entered 
upon his duties by feeding the hungry, clothing the destitute and cleaning the city. 

July 21. — The harbor of Nipe was entered by four gunboats, which, after an hours' fierce bom- 
bardment, captured the port. 

July 25. — General Miles, with 8,000 men, after a voyage of three days, landed at Guanica, Porto 
Rico. He immediately began his march towards Ponce, which surrendered on the twenty- 
eighth. 

July 26. — The French Ambassador at Washington, Jules Cambon, acting for Spain, asked the 

President upon what terms he would treat for peace. 
July 30. — The President communicated his answer to M. Cambon. 

July 31. — The Spaniards made a night attack on the Americans investing Manila but were 
repulsed with severe losses. 

August. — The Rough Riders left Santiago for Montauk Point, Long Island. 

August 9. — A large force of Spanish were defeated at Coomo, Porto Rico, by General Ernst. 
The Spanish Government formally accepted the terms of peace submitted by the President. 

August 12. — The peace protocol was signed, an armistice proclaimed, and the Cuban block- 
ade raised. 

August 13. — Manila was bombarded by Dewey's fleet and simultaneously attacked by the 
American land forces, under which combined assaults the city surrendered unconditionally. 
August 20. — Great naval demonstration in New York harbor. 

August 22. — All troops under General Merritt remaining at San Francisco ordered to Honolulu. 
August 23. — Bids opened for the construction of twelve torpedo boats and sixteen destroyers. 

General Merritt appointed governor of Manila. General Otis assumed command of the 

Eighth Corps in the Philippines. 
August 25. — General Shafter left Santiago. 

August 26. — President officially announced the names of the American Peace Commissioners. 

Last of General Shafter's command leaves Santiago for this country. 
August 29. — Lieutenant Hobson arrived at Santiago to direct the raising of the " Maria Teresa " 

and ' ' Cristobal Colon. ' ' 
August 30. — General Wheeler orderd an investigation of Camp Wikoff. 
September 2. — Spanish Government selected three peace commissioners. 
September 3. — President visited Montauk. 

September 9. — Peace Commission completed by the appointment of Senator Gray. President 

ordered investigation of War Department. 
September 10.— Spanish Cortes approved Peace Protocol. 

September 11. — American Porto Rico Evacuation Commission met in joint session at San Juan. 
September 12. — Admiral Cervera left Portsmouth, N. H., for Spain. 

September 13. — Roosevelt's Rough Riders mustered out of service. Spanish Senate approved 
Protocol. 

September 14. — Evacuation of Porto Rico began. Queen Regent signed Protocol. 

September 17. — American Cuban Evacuation Commissions met in joint session at Havana. 

Peace Commissioners sailed for Paris. 
September 20.— Spanish evacuation of outlying ports in Porto Rico began. First American 

flag raised in Havana. 



CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF OUR WAR WITH SPAIN. 347 



September 24.— Jurisdiction of Military Governor Wood extended to embrace entire province, 
of Santiago de Cuba. First meeting of the War Investigating Committee held at the 
White House. 

September 25. — lieutenant Hobson floated the " Maria Teresa." Revenue cutter " McCul- 

loch " captured insurgent steamer " Abbey," near Manila. 
September 27. — American Peace Commissioners convened in Paris. 

September 28. — American Commissioners received by French Minister of Foreign Affairs. 
September 29. — Spanish and American Commissioners met for first time, at breakfast given at 

the Foreign Office, Paris. 
October 1. — Peace Commissioners held first joint session. 

October 4. — 2,000 irregular Spanish troops revolted near Cienfuegos and refused to lay down 

arms until paid back salaries. Battleship " Illinois " launched at Newport News. 
October 10. — American flag hoisted over Manzanillo, Cuba. 
October 12. — Battleships " Iowa" and c< Oregon" left New York for Manila. 
October 16. — Opening of Peace Jubilee in Chicago. 
October 18. — United States took formal possession of Porto Rico. 
October 24. — Spanish evacuation of Porto Rico completed. 
October 25. — Philadelphia Jubilee began with naval parade in the Delaware. 
October 30.-r-Cruiser " Maria Teresa " left Caimanera for Hampton Reads. 
October 31. — American Peace Commissioners demanded cession of entire Philippine group. 
November 5, — " Maria Teresa," cruiser, reported lost off San Salvador. 
November 8. — " Maria Teresa " reported ashore at Cat Island. 
November 17. — Evacuation of Camp Meade completed. 

November 21.— American -ultimatum presented to Spanish Peace Commissioners. 
November 25. — First United States troops landed in Havana province. 
November 28. — Spain agreed to cede Philippines. 
November 30. — Blanco left Havana for Spain. 
December 10. — Peace Treaty signed. 

December 11. — Small riot in Havana! Three Cubans killed. 
December 14. — General L,ee arrived in Havana. 

December 23. — Iloilo surrendered to insurgents. Aguinaldo's Cabinet " resigned. 
December 24. — Peace Treaty delivered to President McKinley. 

December 27. — American Evacuation Commissioners issued a proclamation to the inhabitants 
of Cuba. 

December 31. — Last day of Spanish sovereignty in Western hemisphere. 

1899. 

January 1. — The American flag raised over the Palace at Havana. 
February 4-5. — Filipinos attack and try to burn Manila. 
February 6. —Treaty with Spain ratified by the Senate. 
February 10. — Capture of Iloilo by General Miller. 
February 10. — Bombardment and capture of Caloocan. 
March 17. — Queen Regent of Spain signs the peace treaty. 
March 25.— A general advance against the Filipinos. 
March 26.— Colonel Harry C. Egbert killed near Malinta. 
March 31. — Assault and capture of Malolos, the Filipinos' capital. 

April 4. — Philippine Commission addresses a conciliatory proclamation to the insurgents. 

April 11. — General Lawton defeats the Filipinos at Santa Cruz. 

April 11. — Final exchange of the ratifications of the Paris peace treaty. 

April 11.— Proclamation of President McKinley, announcing restoration of peace between 
Spain and America. 



34« DEAR OLD YANKEE DOODLE. 



DEAR OLD YANKEE DOODLE! 



The Song is Seven Centuries Old and Four Great Nations Have 

Owned It* 

YANKEE DOODLE " is one of the oldest songs in the world, and at 
different periods of an unparalleled career has belonged to England, 
to the once vast empire of Holland, and to the Roman Catholic 
Church, where it probably originated, somewhere about the year 
1 200 A. D. If you happen to be a musician and do not believe that such 
an undignified ditty ever could have been intended for solemn purposes, play 
it over on a pipe organ, very simply and slowly, and as the majesty of a 
grand old papal chant fills your soul all your doubts will vanish away. 

Several hundred years ago the good people of Holland thought so much 
of " Yankee Doodle " that they adopted the tune for a harvest song and 
made up new words for it. Mary Mapes Dodge gives one of the verses in 
' Hans Brinker " : 

Yanker didee dudle down 

Didee dudel launter. 
Yankee viver voover vown, 

Botermelt und taunter. 

Nobody knows exactly what this verse meant, but the lines are interest- 
ing because they are primarily responsible for the word " Yankee " and for 
the familiar English version of " Yankee Doodle." 

Soon after being first sung, this quaint verse became so popular among 
all classes in Holland that it may be called a truly national song. It was 
sung in livelier time than the old chant which it supplanted. 

While the great naval war of the sixteenth century was in progress, the 
English, under Admiral Drake, caught the tune. Much to the surprise of 
everybody, England broke the mighty sea power of Hol- 

it From th^Dutch land > ^ wheH the ^ting WaS OVer the English people 

sang mocking parodies of the old song against its hated 
authors. Yankee was understood to mean a Dutchman. Since the Dutch 
were sharp traders, the popular meaning of the word came to be a shrewd, 
hard-headed, ungracious sort of a fellow. Holland then tried to forget the 
song, and it thus passed into the hands of another nation. 



DEAR OLD YANKEE DOODLE. 



349 



All England sang varying words to it in Oliver Cromwell's time. But 
one day — the day that the great reformer rode into Oxford at the head of the 
rebels to battle with the King's army — he wore an immense ostrich feather 
fastened to his hat by a band of heavy silk " maccaroni " cord. Yankee 
Doodle then being a term of contemptuous ridicule, one of the courtiers of 
the boastful King composed the famous refrain : 

Yankee Doodle came to town 

Riding on a pony; 
Stuck a feather in his hat 

And called it maccaroni. 

The rhyme did not hold its first popularity very long, because the rebels 
were successful, and probably it would have been forgotten entirely had not 
the old King's son returned to power a few years later. Meanwhile, the 
reformers had sung the tune to many nonsense verses, which soon spread to 
America. 

The best known of these was " L,ydia Fisher's jig," which made its 
appearance in New England about the year 17 13, and became famous as a 
dance song. The words ran : 

"Lucy Locket lost her pocket; 

Lydia Fisher found it. 
Not a bit of money in it, 

Only binding round it. 

u IvUcy Ivocket" was very popular till 1775, when British regulars were 
encamped on Boston Common, and the natives of the city 
and surrounding towns were organizing into companies of ^Jj^^g^ S 
u minute men " under John Hancock. While as yet 
there had been no open war, the feeling was very bitter among the 
colonists, who were held in such contempt by the soldiers that they were 
taunted with the familiar tune to the words : 

Yankee Doodle came to town 

For to buy a firelock. 
We will tar and feather him, 

And so we will John Hancock. 

This made the colonists so angry that they declined any longer to sing 
an air put to such contemptuous words against themselves. A few weeks 
later something happened that changed their minds, for it was the destiny 
of " Yankee Doodle " to become, apparently forever, the undisputed property 
of America. 



35o THE LAST GREAT BATTLE WITH THE INDIANS. 



In April, 1775, Lord Percy marched out of Boston with a brigade of 
British regulars to disperse the rebels assembled at Lexington and Concord. 
Amid cheering and flying flags, the bands played " Yankee Doodle," and the 
red-coated soldiers sang boastfully the old words which had vainly ridiculed 
Oliver Cromwell over a hundred years before. Perhaps, when they began 
to sing, v they had forgotten how, even before Cromwell's time, the tune had 
been turned against its very authors. He must have remembered before 
returning to Boston, for at Lexington the vaunted soldiers of King George 
were routed by a handful of patriots, who, when they saw how things were 
going, went wild with joy> and taking the words right out of the mouths of 
their adversaries, shouted in exultation the song that had been aimed at 
them in contempt. 

During the flight back to the camp the regulars were peppered with 
shot from behind stone walls and trees, so much to their own discomfort that 
Lord Percy, in a fit of disgust, next morning confessed that after marching 
out to the tune of " Yankee Doodle " they had danced to L it all the way 
home. 

"Yankee Doodle " has already belonged to the three great families of 
the Caucasian race — the Latin, the Teutonic and the Anglo-Saxon. In seven 
centuries it has been carried into the heart of four of the greatest political 
powers of history. 

But in America the song has found a permanent lodgment, and with our 
expanding territory it is destined to be an inspiring melody on distant shores, 
where waves the emblem of American liberty, and where courageous Yan- 
kees carry the higher civilization. 



THE LAST GREAT BATTLE WITH THE INDIANS. 

By J. W. Broi*. 

THERE is a pathetic interest that attaches to the Indians, especially 
for those who reflect upon the sufferings which they have endured 
at the hands of their subjugators. The unthoughtful are apt to 
regard what are known as the " Red Skins " as being more than 
savages, as the impersonation of cruelty, and the incarnation of blood thirsti- 
ness, hateful and unappeasable. The thoughtful, on the other hand, will 
reflect upon the. conditions and circumstances that have conspired to make 
the Indian an implacable enemy of the white race. The whole of what are 



THE LAST GREAT BATTLE WITH THE INDIANS. 351 



now the United States once belonged, by right of immemorial occupation, 
to the Red Man. To him the country was a vast preserve affording abundant 
means of livelihood without fatiguing drafts upon his energies. When con- 
fronted by the white man, his simple mind, untutored, inexperienced, super- 
stitious, prompted him to a reverence such as awe inspires; but the white 
man came in gleaming armor, with falchion and spear, upon a mission of 
conquest. Before this interloper the Red Man was forced to retire. His valor 
availed him nothing ; he fought with courage and died in despair. Driven 
ever westward, before trained armies and pioneers, the Red Man sought, but 
could find no refuge ; his blood trails were everywhere, but place of final 
rest there was none. From a population of nearly ten million, at the time 
the Jamestown settlement was made (1607), the Indians of North America 
have dwindled to less than quarter of a million, and in another century the 
race will become extinct like their progenitors, the mound-builders. Their 
number is so small, their spirit so broken, their despair so great, that though 
they stubbornly refuse to assimilate with their conquerors, and tenaciously 
maintain the customs of their forbears, no existing tribe of Indians will ever 
again seriously dispute the mastery of their subjugators. 

The illustration on the accompanying page is appropriately entitled, and 
graphically represents the last rally that the fast disappearing race will 
ever make. 

On June 26, 1876, General Custer, with 200 as brave men as ever faced 
an enemy, while seeking a large band of Sioux Indians who had broken 
away from their Dakota reservation and had been committing many depreda- 
tions, came suddenly upon the foe, 2,500 strong, in a valley of the L,ittle Big 
Horn. The result of the battle constitutes one of the greatest tragedies of 
American history, but the particulars can never be accurately told because 
not a single person in Custer's force escaped the fury of the Indians. The 
remains of this heroic band were discovered a few days later, mutilated and 
massed about their brave commander, showing how fiercely they had fought 
and how bravely they had died. 

Three months later another fight took place, between the regular 
cavalry, led by General Miles, and Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Indians, 
the result of which was not only a victory, but a punishment so severe that 
it has served as an example and as a perpetual restraint to the Indian instinct 
to make reprisal upon their white foe. The Nez Perce tribe rebelled against 
the Government's decision to locate them in northeast Oregon and north- 
west Idaho, and went upon the war path, driving off stock and murdering 
settlers. General Howard set out with a strong force of cavalry to apprehend 
the marauders, but his search was a fruitless one, for the Indians contrived to 



352 THE LAST GREAT BATTLE WITH THE INDIANS. 



elude his every effort to find them. General Miles, who at the time was a 
Colonel, then went in pursuit of the Indians, which he came upon, 500 
strong, on the fourth of October, 1876, at Bear Paw Mountain, Montana, and 
their retreat being cut off, a desperate battle ensued which lasted for several 
hours. The Indians lost more than one-half their number in killed and 
the remainder were taken prisoners, except a dozen who escaped with Chief 
White Bird. This fight was so disastrous to the Indians, that the Nez Perce 
tribe was reduced to a pitiful number, incapable of further armed resistance, 
while all the other once powerful tribes have been similarly reduced, and are 
now practically prisoners to the strong arm of the government. The 
power of the Red Man has therefore been extinguished forever, and the 
time approaches when, like the game of the great west, he will disappear, or 
survive only as the relic of a lost race. 





LOADING COMMISSARY STORES ONTO CARABON CARTS, AT THE 
PASIG RIVER WHARF. 




FILIPINO WOMEN BATHING IN THE UPPER PASIG RIVER. 




6 




5 060 f^- 



e 



J 



FRANCE 



17 

J ;MAOI 

.S /SPAIN 



/AFRICA 



1 ERICA 



BETWEEN POINTS OF NAVAIv INTEREST. 



* I ■ 




ustment. 5. Discharged Whitehead and Howell torpedoes. 
»arging a torpedo. 

AND TORPEDO BOATS IN ACTION. 



5. Sims-Edison torpedo directed oy wir e . 




V, 




L 



V 



; ' : ' v " V. L___ L 

THE LAST ONE ON BOARD— UNITED STATES TROOPS LEAVING SAN FRANCISCO 

FOP MANILA, MAY 25, 1898. 



BRAVE WOMAN NURSES ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 353 



BRAVE WOMAN NURSES ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE. 

By Hannah Perrixe Westfall. 

AT dawn on April 6, 1863, the battle of Shiloh began. The cannon- 
ading shook the earth where we were. The Union forces were 
driven back by the Confederates under General Albert Sidney 
Johnston. The surgeons gave us orders to prepare for tremendous 
woik, but none of us had any idea of what the battle would mean for the 
hospital corps. At about ten o'clock the wounded began arriving at our 
hospital tents in the rear of the army of the Ohio, under the command of 
General Sherman. We had labored like beavers for five hours making 
ready, as far as possible, for expeditious work, when the wounded soldiers 
began to come. While the cannon boomed, and cavalry and artillery ad- 
vanced and retreated over in the forest a mile away, we set up cots in tents, 
got out old clothes, sorted out bandages and lint, arranged medicines, got 
fresh water ready, and did a thousand and one things that an army nurse 
must do to assist the surgeons and ambulance men. 

Oh, what frightful scenes there w r ere, as the four-horse, double-decked 
ambulances came through mud to the surgeons' tents. The soldiers looked 
like overgrown boys. Some, indeed, were about eighteen years old. They 
were packed like sardines in the great wagons, and the groans and moans of 
the poor fellows as the ambulances stopped before the surgeons' tents were 
beyond description. Some had died on the way from the battlefield, and 
they were laid one side, while the living were hauled out from the wagons 
as quickly as possible. The floors of the two decks in the ambulances were 
covered with blood. The men's trousers were as red with 
gore as if thev had been soused in buckets of blood. No The Suf, g eon ' s - 

Headquarters a 

one can ever tell to one who has never been at the front of siaughter-House. 

war the monstrous horror of a surgeon's headquarters dur- 
ing- and after a battle. All day and all night long, on both the sixth and seventh 
of April the ambulances carried thousands of the dead and wounded to the 
rear. The monstrous horror of war was realized by us more at Shiloh than 
elsewhere during the rebellion. 

For ten hours we nurses worked as I never believed before any one could. 
I believe that I personally washed over two hundred and fifty men. Some 
were unconscious and some raging with fever. All were covered with mud, 
and their clothes saturated with blood. Some were so badly torn by shells and 

grape that their clothes had to be cut away. The general cry was for water 
23 



S54 BRAVE WOMAN NURSES ON THE EIEED OE BATTLE. 



— cold water. They were all burning with the fever that follows gunshot 
wounds when surgical aid is not had at once. Some poor fellows had lain ten 
and twelve hours on the battlefield waiting for death. The air was sick- 
ening and heavy with the smell of perspiration and warm blood. 

One young man died while I was opening his shirt. He had joked a 
minute before, in spite of a hole through his body by a minie ball, about 
the way Buell's Corps had surprised the Rebs. One man from Iowa asked 
me to get his haversack open so that he could look upon a picture of his 
wife which he had there. I did so, and just as I found the photograph he 
clasped his hands to the wound in his shoulder and died. 

Love Letters Written j) ozens Q f so ldiers asked me to take the names and addresses 
for Dying Soldiers. 

of dear ones at home. That was something we always pro- 
vided for, and did faithfully. We all used to sit up nights after a skirmish or a 
battle, and write letters to relatives and friends as we had promised dying sol- 
diers to do. It was a pious duty, and I never knew anyone to shirk it. Some 
of the dearest and most sacred friendships I ever formed were in writing 
letters home for a dying soldier. 

For five days and four nights the surgeons, nurses and others about the 
hospitals worked almost constantly amid agonizing scenes. Hundreds of 
arms and legs were amputated. I saw literally a pile of members of the 
human body heaped outside a surgeon's headquarters that could not be put 
into a common farm wagon. There were dozens of such surgeons' head- 
quarters on the field at Shiloh. 

When we were in the hospitals at the rear of the trenches from which 
the siege of Vicksburg was conducted, we had surgical amputations and 
operations every day for weeks. The surgeons could work more leisurely 
there, and the death rate from operations was not so high as at the close of 
a battle. Day after day we heard the roar of Sherman's big guns. Several 
times we saw General Grant during those days. Once he came and called 
at our hospital upon Colonel Watkins, who was recovering from a shot in the 
neck. General John A. Logan came frequently to call upon the soldiers in the 
hospitals during the Vicksburg campaign, and we had almost daily visits 
from such ladies as Mrs. Logan, Mrs. McPherson and the wives of brigadier- 
generals and colonels. The soldiers in the hospitals fared better in the 
Vicksburg campaign than at any other time in the Civil War. 

There is joy also in the life of an army nurse. When we had nursed a 
poor, suffering and appreciative man through the valley of the shadow of 
death, and finally began to see him grow easier, we felt so good. When at 
last he sat up and was finally discharged as well enough to go horn^, we 
were very happy. There is a wonderful satisfaction in seeing a brave man^ 



AN EARLY MARTYR OF THE CIVIL WAR. 



355 



restored to vigor and usefulness under your care. Then the heroism that an 
army nurse sees often displayed where it is at least expected . One feels that 
nothing is too good for a man who will leave home and all that is dear to him 
to go and suffer untold agony for patriotic principle. I have in mind a colonel 
of an Illinois regiment at Chickamauga, who had a horrible .wound in the 
shoulder from a piece of shell. He walked three miles to the surgeon's 
tent, because he wanted to let the more severely wounded soldiers ride in the 
ambulance. He declined to take chloroform, and endured the intense pain of 
extracting over fifty pieces of bone from among the quivering flesh with 
only an occasional sigh. 



AN EARLY MARTYR OF THE CIVIL WAR. 



Colonel Ellsworth, of the Fire Zouaves— His Struggles with Poverty, 
and His Crowning Heroism* 

By Wilson Conroy. 

(From Success.) 

COLONEL EPHRAIM ELMER ELLSWORTH was one of the 
deafest of the friends of my youth," says John Hay. " I cannot 
hope to enable the reader to see him as I saw him. No words can 
express the vivid brilliancy of his look and speech, the swift and 
graceful energy of his bearing. He was not a scholar, yet his words were 
like martial music ; in stature he was less than the medium size, yet his 
strength was extraordinary ; he seemed made of tempered steel. His entire 
aspect breathed high ambition and daring. His jet-black curls, his open, 
candid brow, his dark eye, at once fiery and tender, his eagle profile, his 
mouth just shaded by the youthful growth that hid none of its powerful and 
delicate lines, — the whole face, which seemed made for nothing less than 
the command of men, whether as a general or an orator, comes before me as 
I write." 

Ephraim Elmer Ellsworth was born at Malta, Saratoga County, N. Y., 
April ii, 1837, not far from the scene of Burgoyne's surrender. "The air 
he first drew in came to him after sweeping over plains made historic by the 
r>atriot arms ; the first tales told him were how, upon the fields of his native 



35$ 



AN EARLY MARTYR OF THE CIVIL WAR. 



county, one of the decisive battles of the war for independence was fought." 
At fourteen, he entered the village store at Mechanicsville ; a year later 
he went to Troy, " a venturer in a frail bark upon life's sea, his only chart a 

common school education and the precepts of kind parents." 
|S Youth ' eSS ^ e s P ent a y ear there, and then went to New York. 

" Faithful, honest clerks," he said to his father, " are 
always wanted there ; one who knows his duty and will do it, cannot fail to 
succeed." 

At New York, his taste for military life was acquired. He attended 
every drill he could of the Seventh Regiment, read books of tactics, and 
began to form original ideas, and develop extraordinary plans regarding 
military organization. Four years of struggle and the strictest self-denial 
followed. Everything that tended toward making a soldier perfect in thought, 
study, or deed, he strove to acquire. He became master of several systems 
of bayonet exercise, and, under DeVilliers' tuition, an accomplished swords- 
man. He became drill-master of the Governor's Guard of Wisconsin. 

About this time Ellsworth tried to enter the office of a Chicago lawyer. 
" I am determined to study law," said he, after he was refused entrance, 
" and to succeed, if I have to borrow a copy of Blackstone 
Would Study Black- an( j s t u dy in the court-house cupola. But I want to start 
S house Cupola" r ^^ lt ' an( ^ ra ther than not do so, would enter an office in 
any capacity, — build fires, if nothing else is to be done, 
and trust to time to work my way to the position I desire." 

He began to study law, and earned a pittance by copying legal papers. 
Here Hay furnishes us information from Ellsworth's diary, which was begun 
on his twenty-second birthday. "I do this," he said, "because it seems 
pleasant to be able to look back upon our past lives and note the gradual 
change in our sentiments and views of life ; and because my life has 
been, and bids fair to be, such a jumble of strange incidents, that, should I 
become anybody or anything, this will be useful as a means of showing how 
much suffering and temptation a man may undergo and still keep clear of 
despair and vice." 

" He was neat, almost foppish, in attire," says Hay; " not strictly fashion- 
able, for he liked bright colors, flowing cravats, and hats that suggested the 
hunter or ranger, rather than the law clerk ; yet the 

Living on Crackers ; pittance f or w hi c h he worked was very small and his 
Sleeping r 

on the Floor. poverty extreme." He bought a forty-five-dollar desk at 
auction for fourteen dollars, which he borrowed of James 
Clayburne. Some two years before, he went into an eating-house on an 
errand. Clayburne, with friends, invited him to take oysters with them. 



AN EARLY MARTYR OF THE CIVIL WAR. 357 

"J refused," he writes, " for I always made it- a practice never to accept even 
an apple from anyone, because I could not return the courtesy." Before he 
knew it, the oysters were there. " To escape making myself more conspicuous 
by further refusal, I sat down. How glorious every morsel tasted, — the first 
nourishing food I had tasted for three days and three nights ! When I came 
to Chicago with a pocketful of money, I sought James out, and told him I 
owed him half a dollar. He objected, but I made him take the money. 
Well, when I wanted $10, he gave it to me freely. I have written four hours 
this evening ; have eaten two pounds of crackers, and shall sleep on the 
office floor to-night." 

u I read one hundred and fifty pages of Blackstone," reads a later record, 
" and slept on the floor." This severe regimen began to tell upon him, his 
food tending to debilitate him, even more than his rough bed. " I tried to 
read, .but could not. I am afraid my strength will not hold out. I have 
contracted a cold sleeping on the floor, which settled in my head." About 
this time, on urgent solicitation, he became a commander of cadets, on 
promise of obedience to rigorous conditions. " He was firm as granite to 
his company, and cheery to the world, while severe to himself." 

" I am convinced that the course of reading I am pursuing is not suffi- 
ciently thorough," he writes. " I have commenced again at the beginning 
of Blackstone. I read a proposition or paragraph and reason upon it, and 
try to get at the principle involved in my own language ; view it in every 
light, till I think I understand it ; then write it down in my commonplace 
book. My progress is, in consequence, very slow ; it takes half an hour to 
each page. I attended a meeting of cadets ; all my propositions were 
accepted. I spent my last ten cents for crackers to-day and read ten pages 
of Blackstone." 

The next day he w T rites : " My mind was so occupied with obtaining 
money due to-morrow that I could not study. I read five pages of Black- 
stone, but had nothing whatsoever to eat. I am very tired 
and hungry to-night. Onward ! " g T 

25 J fe He Studied Hard. 

He assumed command of the cadets. No sign ap- 
peared in his bearing of consuming want. He took high ground ; if they 
elected him it would be with their eyes open. He would make the company 
second to none. He forbade cadets entering drinking or gambling saloons, 
or other disreputable places, under penalty of expulsion, newspaper publica- 
tion and loss of uniform. He still studied law. 

" So aim to spend your time," he wrote, " that at night, when looking 
back at the disposal of the day, you find no time misspent, no hour, no 
moment, even, which has not resulted in some benefit, no action which had 



355 



AN EARLY MARTYR OF THK CIVIL WAR. 



not a purpose in it. On Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays, rise at five 
o'clock ; from five to ten, study ; from ten to one, copy ; from one to four, 

transact business ; from four to seven, study ; from seven 
H °^His C Days dCd to ^^t, exercise ; from eight to ten, study. On Tuesdays,. 

Wednesdays and Fridays, rise at six o'clock ; from six to 
ten, study ; from ten to one, attend to business ; from one to seven, study and 
copy ; from seven to eleven, drill." Surely this youth determined, with 
Milton — 

"To scorn delights, and live laborious days.'* 

" Throwing aside the old ideas of soldierly bearing, he taught his men to 
use vigor, promptness, and ease. Discarding the stiff buckram strut of 
military tradition, he taught them to move with the loafing insouciance of 
the Indian, or the graceful ease of the panther. He tore off their choking 
collars and binding coats, and invented a uniform which, though too flashy 
and conspicuous for actual service, was very bright and daring for holiday 
occasions, and left the wearer perfectly free to fight, strike, kick, jump or 
run." 

On July 4, his zouaves had a public drill, an " overwhelming success." 
The young soldier, after his feast of crackers, wrote, in exultation : " Victory, 
and thank God !" A little earlier, he accepted a challenge from a noted 
fencer, and beat him. The Chicago Tribune, unfriendly before, declared : 
" This company cannot be surpassed this side of West Point." 

Then came a wonderful " marche de triomphe" on invitation, in the 
summer of i860, to New York, Boston, Philadelphia and Baltimore, where 
the picturesque zouaves exhibited their marvelous drill. 
He Escorted Lincoln returned to Illinois the man most talked of in America. 

to Washington. 

At Lincoln's invitation, he went to Washington as his 
escort. He was there made a lieutenant. He had a great scheme, a national 
militia system ; his ideas were those of a military genius, and not of a 
tactician, merely. Then came the war. He enlisted the New York fire- 
men as "Fire Zouaves;" they were accepted, and were soon on their way 
to the South. 

On the evening of May 23, 1861, he received his orders to occupy 
Alexandria, on the advance into Virginia. He worked almost all night 
arranging regimental matters, then penned two letters, one to his betrothed 
at Rockford, and this, a legacy, to his father and mother : "It may be my 
lot to be injured in some manner. Whatever may happen, cherish the con- 
solation that I was engaged in the performance of a sacred duty ; and, 
to-night, thinking over the probabilities of the morrow and the occurrences 



AN EARLY MARTYR OF THE CIVIL WAR. 



359 



of the past, I am perfectly content to accept whatever my fortune may be, 
confident that He who noteth even the fall of a sparrow, will have some 
purpose even in the fate of one like me. My darling and ever-loved parents, 
good-by ; God bless, protect and care for you." These words of a true son 
were the last from his pen. 

His death has become historic. Several have described it. Alexandria 
was occupied ; Ellsworth, with a squad of zouaves, hurried to seize the 
telegraph office. He caught sight of a Confederate flag 
floating from the Marshall House. He had often seen this "oJa'uf 
flag from the Executive Mansion. Accompanied by four 
soldiers and several civilians, he made his way to the roof, and tore down 
the flag ; coming down, he was met on the stairs by the hotel-keeper and 
shot dead. His assassin perished at the same moment, killed by one of the 
zouaves, Frank E. Brownell. Searching for the bullet, they found a golden 
circlet on his bosom, with the motto — Non nobis, sed pro patria, " Not to 
ourselves, but for our country. " 

To the extreme limits of the country, the mournful news sped on 
lightning wings ; sad hearts throbbed everywhere under the starry flag. 

Ellsworth's funeral service was held in the east room of the White 
House; for Lincoln mourned him as a son. 

" Excuse me," said the President to Senator Wilson, "but I cannot 
talk." He burst into tears and concealed his face in his handkerchief. He 
walked up and down the rooms for some moments, and those near stepped 
aside at such an unusual spectacle in such a man and in such a place. "I 
will make no apology, gentlemen, for my weakness," said Lincoln, " but I 
knew poor Ellsworth well, and held him in high regard. Just as you 
entered the room, Captain Fox left me, after giving me the painful details 
of Ellsworth's unfortunate death. The event was so unexpected, and the 
recital so touching, that it quite unnerved me." 

" In the untimely loss of your noble son," wrote the President to Ells- 
worth's parents, " our affliction is scarcely less than your own. So much of 
promised usefulness to one's country, and of bright hopes 
for one's self and friends, have rarely been so suddenly Lmco j r * b y^ tema ' 
darkened as in his fall. In size, in years and youthful 
appearance, a boy only, his power to command men was surprisingly great. 
This power, combined with a fine intellect and indomitable energy, and a 
taste altogether military, constituted in him, as it seemed to me, the best 
matured talent in that department I ever knew ; and yet he was singularly 
modest and deferential in his social intercourse. My acquaintance with him 
began less than two years ago; yet through the latter half of the intervening 



3 6o BROTHER AND I. 

period, it was as intimate as the disparity of our ages and my engrossing 
engagements would permit. To me, he appeared to have no indulgences 
or pastimes, and I never heard him utter an intemperate or profane word. 
What was conclusive of his good heart, he never forgot his parents. The 
honors he labored for so laudably, and in the sad end so gallantly gave his 
life for, he meant for them no less than for himself. 

" In the hope that it may be no intrusion upon the sacredness of your 
sorrow, I have ventured to address this tribute to the memory of my young 
friend, and your brave and early-fallen child. May God give you the conso- 
lation that is beyond all earthly power. 

" Sincerely your friend in common affliction, 

"A. Lincoln." 

How little did that great and generous man think that he, too, would 
pass into life immortal by the same dreadful rush of an assassin's bullet, 
which would set a nation into sorrow and mourning. 

Lincoln loved Ellsworth as he did his own child, and it is a remarkable 
coincidence that the former should be one of the first and the other one of 
the last martyrs of the war. 



BROTHER AND I. 

By Matthew H. Peters. 

I 

WE were both in the army, brother and I, 
He with Sterling Price 'neath the Stars and Bars ; 
I was with Rosecrans, bearing on high 

The banner of Union, the Stripes and Stars — 
He with the Stars and Bars, I with the Stripes and Stars. 

II 

He marched north from the Pelican State ; 

With the Buckeye boys I marched to the south ; 
We met on the field, and it was our fate 

To shed our blood at the cannon's mouth — 

I for the North and he for the South. 



BROTHER AND I. 



Ill 

Both of us fought for what we thought right, 
But of duty, each took a different view ; 

Both of us entered the perilous fight 
And did our duty as patriots do — 
But he wore the gray and I wore the blue. 

IV 

Thus full four years of strife, blood and tears 
Passed wearily over the land of our love ; 

The North filled with dread, the South full of fears, 
The battle-smoke filling the heavens above, 
The clash of arms — in the land of our love. 

V 

But the war came to a close at last, and 
I went home with laurels I'd won ; 

Brother went South to the Pelican land 
In the gloom of defeat, his cause undone — 
I with my tattered flag — flag he had none. 

VI 

I was received by the multitude 

With open arms, with shouts and hurrahs ; 

But my brother's lot was sad as he stood 

Amid his friends who mourned the lost cause — 
He honored in silence, I with applause. 

VII 

My brother, indeed, was as brave and true 
To the cause he espoused as I to mine ; 

He fought as Americans always do # 

When they feel they must fight or else resign 
Their claim to honor and rights divine. 

VIII 

He staked his life for a cause that went down 
As I staked mine for the Union for aye ; 

But when he surrendered (in honor bound 
To support the old flag) he went his way 
True to his honor and true to this day. 



A POSSIBILITY. 



IX 



And now that the awful struggle is done, 
Let the Angel of Peace assert her might, 

Cementing our hearts and making us one, 
Forgetting the bitterness of the fight 
Where brother slew brother and thought it right. 



Let the awful past be buried from sight 
As our comrades so noble, brave and true 

Are buried on fields where they made the brave fight, 
Keeping their virtues alone in view — 
The chivalrous gray and generous blue. 



^ ¥ ^HERE was no alternative. The bleak March winds of inhospitable 



New England — place of my birth — were at hand. As a boy I had 
laughed at them, but a cough which I had brought back from a 
Southern swamp, together with a wound in the chest, rather put 



me at a disadvantage these days. 

My doctor had been the surgeon of my regiment. When he said a 
thing he meant it ; he would not know how to give a false alarm. And his 
orders in this instance were peremptory ; I could quit that climate or I 
could get a new physician. Thus it was that I fled from the promised 
embrace of the cracked, half-frozen, half-mud, March soil of Massachusetts, 
just after a particularly changeful winter. I fled southward. If half dead 
I must go, I could at least indulge a fond hope I had entertained when 
stronger and revisit some of the old familiar spots in Dixie. There were no 
family ties to hold me — I was a forlorn old bachelor. Perhaps my celibacy 
was my own fault; it was not my choice. Life once had had its joys for 
me. Like many other joys we refer to nowadays, however, they were anti- 
bellum joys. Fannie Raymond made my college days truly halcyon, until 
a rival appeared. He was a dashing Virginian ; rich, handsome and tal- 
ented. Furthermore, he was in the class ahead of me, and every college man 
will understand me when I say I did not want to appear to be getting in 
his way. 



X 



A POSSIBILITY. 



By Charles W. Burpee. 




A POSSIBILITY. 



363 



When Sumter was first fired on, I chose my course and he chose his. 
Then I had somewhat the advantage, for her father was active in recruiting 
the regiment in which I enlisted, while my rival went South to draw his 
sword. For the rest of my life I have never ceased to regret the method in 
which I sought to improve that advantage. Her death intervened before the 
end of the strife, under circumstances peculiarly distressing to me, and with 
her perished my selfish ambition, all that I had to live for. 

It was, therefore, with small regard for what the issue might be, that I 
yielded to the doctor's importunities, and exchanged the land of consumption 
for the " land of cotton." To the end that my enfeebled constitution might 
be built up, the life was to be of the roughest. Kor was it against my own 
desire that I turned my back upon the polite circles of the cities as well 
as upon the bustling society of the Northern capitalist, and cast my lot 
among the so-called " white-trash," with a second "John Burleson" for 
my guide. 

In passing over a lonely mountain, " whar many a Yankee pris'ner had 
hid," we came one night to a decent looking cabin, occupied, my Burleson 
told me, by the "Silent Man." After the open manner of the land, we at 
once made ourselves the guests of this singular personage. He was a tall, 
well-formed, manly-appearing fellow, clad, to be sure, in hunter's dress, but 
by no means of the most ungainly pattern. A heavy, yet well-trimmed 
beard concealed his features, though it failed to cover a seam on one cheek. 
Then there was something about the expression of his eyes, together with 
a graceful carriage, alien to backwoodsmen, which betokened some former 
acquaintance with refinement. 

On our entrance, he had thrust a book into one of the several chests in 
the little room. From the contents of that chest, revealed for the moment, 
I judged that some of the others might also be lined with books ; a small 
valise is capacious enough for the effects of a common wood-chopper. The 
reason for his title was soon apparent. Host though he was, he seldom 
opened his lips ; but when he did, he used language unsullied by any dialect. 
At the same time that he was so unobtrusive — -yea, so closely reserved, 
he had, none the less, a commanding mien, which, while interesting, for- 
bade that one should thrust himself within the sacred circle of his thoughts 
— an air of regard for others' feelings which exacted respect for his. 

After the supper of coarse bread and bacon, we stretched ourselves on 
the ground, around a striking reminder of the old-time camp-fires, and the 
stereotyped " wal " of the guide was the preliminary of the story. But I 
perceived in his tone that night, in place of his usual devil-may-care jollity, 
a touch of sadness, seemingly alien to so rough a nature. 



3$4 



A POSSIBILITY. 



His theme was a visit to the North since the end of the war, when he 
had absurdly thought to abandon his roving life for one of such sober and 
lucrative industry as he had heard told about. 

" In the arsenal at Springfield," said he, " I found a ' relic ' that I had to 
lay claim to. It was this way — these are the plain facts. I don't often rake 
'em up, but 'twas just twenty year ago to-day that I met him. " He came 
to us a big-shouldered, fine-looking fellow — hands and face as white's a 
girl's — just outen some college. Box and rastle he would with any one on 
us, but he wa'n't somehow right used to us rough uns, I reckon, though a 
brother o' his was one o' our cap'ns — liked to be readin' and alone consider- 
able. I stood next to him in the ranks them first days, though, and him and 
me seemed ter hitch right ter onct. I own he was a leetle peculiar 'bout 
some things. Once in a while he'd git a letter, what I called a 'spe- 
cial,' and then we'd see no more o' him for an hour or so. We'd laugh at 
it in any other feller, but we couldn't call it senterment in Harry — he had 
so much man, yer know. I alius thought of it that there must ha' been 
some good reasons for his actions, and I didn't know as how he wasn't 
obleeged to ask my opinion. I tell ye, boys, I liked him better'n a brother ; 
he had the true ring — Harry had." 

The fact that the guide was a great, hulking, indifferent, good-natured 
sort of fellow made our respect all the more profound for the feelings which 
were now moving him so deeply. Not a sound save the crackling of the 
hemlock to disturb his low tones, as he continued, his two auditors gazing 
stolidly into the fire : 

" To put it short — for all this is nothitf' to you 'uns, mayhap — one day 
he received a right smart package of old letters and a ' special ' that he read 
at a glance, the last — the last, boys, that ever come to him. After he 
thought I was asleep that night, he sat thinkin' a long time. Then, finally, 
I heard him mutter, for I couldn't go to sleep nohow, I heard Harry mutter : 
' Bob, you owe this to the side you chose when the call came, but had I — no, 
nothin' could have induced me.' With that he got up and paced back and 
forth, crunchin' the letter in his fist and lookin' like a man goin' into battle. 
Then he stopped, and claspin' his hands together, he said, sort o' more cheer- 
ful like : ( Yes, old chum, you deserve it, too, but ' — I could hear him grate 
his teeth — ' may God keep us apart !' 

" When he next appeared in the ranks his face looked — wal, 1 sullen,' 
the boys called it, but I feared worse. I noticed on one side o' his gun stock 
was carved ' Fannie,' on the other side was 1 Yale, '63,' that he had put thar 
when he fust picked out the gun — he never told us why, and no one asked 
him 'bout that any more'n they did 'bout the 1 Fannie.' " 



A POSSIBILITY. 



365 



As the speaker paused, I lifted my eyes to the face of the backwoods- 
man. I hardly knew him for the same man. With parted lips he had 
drawn nearer and was staring at the guide. Already my own thoughts were 
burning in my brain, as I beheld the transformation in our host. I would 
have found my tongue, but I was held as under a spell. Meanwhile, the 
guide, in his turn oblivious of all around him, with his lips was simply 
telling, at intervals, of the life he was Jiving over again. 

" The next day, boys, was Sharpsburg. In the thickest of the charge 
at the bridge I heard him shout : i Great God! — Bob !' and I saw him take 
quick aim at a young Yank officer who was makin' for our colors. Then, 
suddenly, without firm', I can swear it, without firm', he pushed forward, 
dubbin' every man aimin' that way and actin' like mad, and he reached the 
cussed Yank jist as he was fallin' by my ball. — Ahem ! The smoke chokes 
me, that's all. Bullets was flyin' right thick in that direction, but afore I 
could think, we was forced back — and — and — in the confusion — wal', I los' 
sight o' my boy in spite o' the responsibility I felt, and when roll was 
called " — the guide's lips moved, but gave no sound. The backwoodsman 
was motionless. There was a furnace in my breast. One word and — 

But the guide's voice was returning to him. " A month later," he con- 
tinued, painfully, abstractedly, " another letter come for him. As I was right 
sure Harry was no more, and as I couldn't find his brother, I thought as how 
I might open it, fer I was sort er a brother. It read somethin' like this : 

" Harry: Sad news. Bob at Antietam has made permanent papa's inflexibility. He's 
even more bitter'n when he sent those letters back. My old mal — mal — sickness [that wasn't 
jest the word; she wrote nice] has returned. I can only hope to see the leaves fall." 

The guide hesitated a moment and then drawing a yellow paper out of 
a rusty wallet, said : " Here ; I may as well confess ; I've got that letter right 
here ; took it out o' my trunk th' other day. This 's it: 

" Leaves fall. But let me say, before it is too late, that that letter sent with the package 
was not voluntary on my part. I may be wronging others as well as myself in writing this, 
but I have done my best to be open and frank in everything. It was not my fault if anyone 
was deceived, and why should I not take this, perhaps my last, opportunity to set right a 
wrong that I did against my own better judgment. All I can say is, don't blame Bob. It is 
not his fault. It is no one's fault, it is fate, and it is best for you. 

" Let me hear from you once more and all will be well. 

" la heaven or on earth. Fannie." 
"Too late for Harry, poor girl, too late." 

The voice died away into silence. Our host's head sank lower and 
lower on his breast. Though my heart had turned to lead I could not take 
my eyes from him. 



366 



A POSSIBILITY. 



With a deep sigh, the guide resumed once more, still unmindful of our 
presence and both of them unmindful of me : " For a time, I'll allow as how 
I did think he might ha' reckoned he's killed the rival that he s'posed his 
* Fannie ' had chosen, and remorse had druv him away. But thar in the 
Springfield arsenal relic room was that very same musket, the letters on the 
stock as plain as the day they was cut, 4 Fannie ' and ( Yale, '63 ' — thar was 
no mistakin'. 

" Oh " — turning to me — " you mought call it 4 romance o' the war ' in 
yer fine talk if yer liked — they're solemn facts to me ; jest reckerlect he 
warn't none o' yer silly-nillies. The bar'l o' that piece was bent and had a 
big stain rusted on it, but the charge of powder was still in it. 

" They told me as how the ' relic ' was brung in by some Connecticut 
Yank, but I put the case afore 'em and arter I'd sent up my old papers, they 
acknowledged my claim, so to-day that musket — ." 

The quick touch of our host's hand on John's shoulder brought him 
back from his trance with a half groan and me to my feet, the pent-up blood 
rushing through my veins. The manner of the interruption was such as I 
had marked among men when they meet an old school-fellow or — a com- 
rade ; but alas ! for my speedy conclusions. Before the guide's mind could 
return to his surroundings, the courtly backwoodsman had said, in the 
forbidding tone which made other speech ridiculous, certainly useless, " I 
beg pardon, sir," and was gone. 

The guide stared in perplexity at the spot in the darkness where our 
host had vanished, and there I left him — the avowed antagonist of sentiment 
— as I entered the cabin. Tearing the margin from an old newspaper, I 
wrote and left on a chest these words : 

Harry: I am the "cursed Yank " of the guide's story. Life was spared to me as well as 
you. Was it not that I might learn the depth of your nobility and plead for your forgiveness ? 
ville, Mass. Bob. 

When I returned the guide still sat by the fire and the only reference 
he ever made thereafter, either to the u simple facts " or to the strange 
interruption, was this one word, with significant inflection, as, obedient to 
my orders, he started out with me into the night again — " W-w- wood- 
chopper ?" 

And in vain have I looked since then for an answer to my note — my 
forgiveness on earth. 



AN EPISODE OF BULL RUN 



367 



AN EPISODE OF BULL RUN. 

By William H. Henry. 

IN a portion of the plateau on which was fought the battle of Bull Run, 
there stands the house now owned and occupied by the aged Mr. Hugh 
Henry, who has furnished the following interesting incidents: 

On that memorable Sabbath — July 2i, 1861 — nearly thirty-eight years 
ago, the Henry mansion' was occupied by Mrs. Judith Henry, her daughter 
and two sons. Mrs. Henry was then eighty-five years old and bedridden 
from age and infirmity. She was the daughter of Louden Carter, Sr., and 
was born within a mile of where she now lies buried. Her husband, Dr. 
Isaac Henry, was the son of Hugh Henry, one of the founders of the first 
Presbyterian Church of Philadelphia, and a conspicuous patriot in the 
Revolution. Dr. Henry was a surgeon on board the United States frigate 
" Constellation," commanded by Commodore Truxton, which captured the 
French frigate " La Insurgeante," and had a conflict with " La Vengeance." 

To go back to the scene of our story on that summer day, it was around 
Mrs. Henry's home that the battle raged in all its fury. General Bee and 
Colonels Carter and Fischer were killed close to her door and inside her 
yard. Griffin's Battery was lost and retaken three times in a hand-to-hand 
fight. There every gunner was killed, regiment after regiment coming to 
the rescue, determined never to yield their guns. There Tyler, Heintzel- 
man and Hunter, with their divisions, battled from dawn to dusk. In the 
intense heat of that summer-day, many who went forth to fight were over- 
come in half an hour and compelled to fall back in the shade, dying from 
sheer exhaustion, their tongues hanging out and their faces black as coal. 
The bodies of the young and brave lay thickly strewn over the lawn, which 
was so covered with blood that it resembled a crimson carpet, while wounded 
horses galloped madly over the bodies of the dead and dying, frantic with 
pain. The bands were scattered, some attending to the wounded while 
others sought shelter in the thickets from the storm of shot and shell. There 
were nearly 30,000 engaged in this butchery all over the Bull Run plateau. 

When Ellen Henry and her brother saw that their house was becoming 
the centre of the battlefield for the contending forces, they carried their 
mother to a ravine some distance from the house, thinking she would be 
safer there. As the battle progressed, however, and shot and shell fell 
around them, they took Mrs. Henry back to the house and placed her in 
bed again. The house was soon transformed into a hospital, and Mrs. 



368 



AN EPISODE OF BUUT RUN. 



Henry died among the wounded and dying soldiers, killed by the bursting of 
a shell in her room. Her daughter never left her bedside, and although the 
house was pierced through and through, both the son and daughter miracu- 
lously escaped. In the anxiety for their mother they seemed to lose all fear 
for their own safety. 

That that estimable old lady, who had spent almost a century of a 
peaceful Christian life in this secluded spot, should die in the midst of such 
a battle, wounded three times by shots flying through her room, seems a 
strange dispensation of Providence. Yet even amidst the din of battle, and 
the groans of the dead and dying, the aged sufferer lived to say that her 
mind was tranquil and that she died in peace, a peace that the roar of battle 
and the horrors of death could not disturb. 

The house, after the battle, was pillaged and left in ruins — the grounds 
which had been the scene of two great battles had not the vestige of a house 
or fence upon it at the close of the war. 

There now stands upon the ground a small frame house, in front of 
which are the grave and monument of Mrs. Henry, with the following 
inscription : 

The Grave of Our Dear Mother, 
Judith Henry, 
Killed Near This Spot by the Explosion of a Shell, 
In Her Dwelling, 
During the Battle of July 21, 1861. 

When Killed, 
She Was in Her Eighty-Fifth Year, 
And Confined to Her Bed by 
The Infirmities of Age. 



MURFREESBORO -A REVERIE. 



3$9 



MURFREESBORO— A REVERIE. 

By J. H. Carney. 

L^ST month, it was my privilege to visit scenes on which thirty years 
ago the eyes of the civilized world were fixed.. 
1 Seated at midnight in an open window at Murfreesboro, Ten- 

nessee, memory brought back sad pictures of the terrible past now 
so happily changed. The soft Kentucky breeze, fragrant with the breath of 
flowers and buds, was idly fluttering my window curtains, distilling the very 
balm of rest and peace. Without, the moon was silvering roof, tree and 
garden, and silence lay over this quaint, sleeping city of bloody, tragic his- 
tory — a silence broken only by the deep, solemn tones of Christ Church 
bells tolling the midnight hour, just as solemnly as they did through all the 
dreadful revelry of shot and shell, anguish and death, thirty years ago. 

On those plains over there beyond the city, now lying in a dark and 
silent shroud, more than one hundred thousand Union soldiers were quietly 
sleeping that fatal December evening — too many of them their last sleep on 
earth. The flower of the North was there, fresh from college and forum and 
counting-house and workshop — mothers' boys, the heroes of bright-eyed 
sweethearts, the papas of lisping curly-headed tots, the heart's life of loving 
wives in the far-off Northern homes ; there they were, wrapped in slumber, 
bright visions of home and loved ones floating before them, and the death 
angel, unseen, hovering over all. I think sadly this night over my own 
near relatives who were lost in that gallant array. 

Stretched in front of the sleeping army were a number of dark, muzzled 
cannon, whose deep throats were on the morrow to vomit forth a sulphurous 
whirlwind of fiery hail, and open up one of the bloodiest tragedies in his- 
tory. And the heroic leaders, what of them ? Back there behind the city, 
in an old house, which was afterward swept away in the red tide of war, 
were gathered in stern and solemn council the men on whose wx>rds a loyal 
nation depended in this supreme and breathless hour. Rosecrans, in all the 
flower of his imperial manhood, was there ; the lion-hearted Sheridan ; the 
loved and knightly Buell — heroes all. 

And where are they to-night ? And where are the gallant divisions they 
led to certain but sublime defeat ? This gentle midnight wind brushes over 
those plains where they once trod, and through those streets, where thou- 
sands of them were massed in close array waiting for the signal to assault ; 
but the heroes are gone, and to me this soft wind comes laden with sighs 
-4 



37Q 



THE IvAST VICTORY OF THE LOST CAUSE. 



and requiems, and a silent army of spectres are massed in the streets of 
Murfreesboro. 

But what of the other side ? On the opposite banks of the little river 
slept that night equally as many men who wore the gray — men just as brave, 
with hearts just as warm, with homes just as loving as those of their blue- 
coated brethren across the river ; and to-morrow these men were to grapple 
in the struggle of death. And almost between them slept the little city 
which was soon to be desolated by the blind wrath of brothers. 

" So slept Pompeii, tower and hall, 
Ere the dread earthquake swallowed all." 

So slept until the dawn of that day when cannon shots roared out the agreed 
signal and the dance to death began. What followed history tells. But who 
can tell what sights and scenes, what sobs and groans, what terrible dying 
agonies took place in those now silent streets ? Could these old stone houses 
talk, their record would be so sad no human being could hear the story. 
Some of the good people tell me that after the battle was over the dead 
soldiers were lying in the streets, on the sidewalks and in the gardens. One 
lady told me that when she returned to her house after the battle, four dead 
Union soldiers were lying in the parlor, and that floor is to-day stained with 
their blood. Years after a party of visiting Grand Army men sought out 
her house, and recognized it as the place to which they had brought some 
wounded comrades on that day to die alone. 



THE LAST VICTORY OF THE LOST CAUSE. 

By Colonel William H. Stewart. 

ON the night of the sixth of April, 1865, Mahone's Division, the rear 
guard or left wing of the Army of Northern Virginia, slept on its 
arms at the High Bridge, on the Norfolk and Western Railroad, 
near Farmville, in Virginia. Early on the following morning the 
unmounted officers and privates crossed over the Appomattox River on this 
bridge and the mounted officers forded the stream. The close pursuit of the 
Army of the Potomac prevented the destruction of this great structure ; but 
our soldiers succeeded in burning a barn near, to prevent the capture of a 
large quantity of tobacco stored therein. 

After a march of a few hours, our division was halted at Cumberland 



THE LAST VICTORY OF THK LOST CAUSE. 



37i 



church and formed in line of battle across .the highway. The right was 
connected with another line of troops, that extended away toward Farmville, 
and its left, entirely unprotected, rested a few hundred yards in rear of the 
church. 

It was my fortune to be assigned to the command of the division picket 
line, which was barely established before the hostile sharpshooters were 
seen advancing in front, and the contest began, to continue hotly the live- 
long day. The men in line of battle had hurriedly thrown up a slight earth- 
work, with bayonets and bare hands, which afforded scant protection from 
the duel that raged fiercely between the pickets. The Rockbridge Artillery, 
Captain Archie Graham, was posted on the line of battle near the public 
road and rendered valuable service throughout that long day. Robert E. 
Lee, Jr., son of General Robert E. Lee, our commander-in-chief, was a pri- 
vate in this battery. 

In the afternoon my pickets were forced back by a strong column of 
troops, which made a dashing charge upon our left, with the view of turning 
our flank. The galling fire from my pickets impeded the charge, and the 
advance brigade halted for protection in a deep ravine only a short distance 
from the flank of our crude earthworks. The pickets were quickly rein- 
forced by a regiment of Georgians from General " Tiger " Anderson's brigade, 
and held the enemy in check until the gallant Anderson, with the remainder 
of his command, swept around the left of our position, struck the enemy in 
flank, capturing an entire brigade with its colors. This magnificent man- 
oeuvre was directed by the dashing Mahone and performed under his eyes, 
as I can testify. It was the quick conception of one of the greatest mili- 
tary leaders of the war between the sections — of a soldier well worthy of 
the mantle of Stonewall Jackson. After the brilliant feat of the glorious 
Georgians, our picket line was soon re-established ; but not without the 
sacrifice of some brave men. 

Conspicuous for gallantry was a handsome young artilleryman, not out 
of his teens, who, when not engaged with his cannon, would borrow rifles 
from the infantrymen, stand up, while others were protected by breastworks, 
and with deliberate aim fire at his man, regardless of the continuous shower 
of bullets to which he was exposed. Finally he was shot down, desperately 
wounded, and borne off the field to the residence of Mr. Hogsden, which 
was made a field hospital. 

Subsequently Adjutant Griffin F. Edwards, a youth of twenty years, of 
our Sixty-first Virginia regiment, infantry, while gallantly rallying his men 
to recover the lost picket line in front of his regiment, was also severely 
wounded, After dark he was taken to the field hospital. The yard was 



372 



THE LAST VICTORY OF THE LOST CAUSE. 



strewn with the wounded and dead; the kitchen, out-houses, and even the 
stables v/ere full of bleeding men. There was one vacant place in the parlor 
of the old mansion where a blanket was spread for Adjutant Edwards. The 
soldier nearest happened to be the brave artillery boy who had been shot 
down while acting as a voluntary infantryman, as above stated, and he ap- 
peared to be in the agonies of death. Although severely wounded, the 
chivalrous Edwards ministered all in his power ; and as he gave him a drink 
of water from his canteen, the boy whispered : " My name is Minor." For 
three days these wounded sufferers remained without surgeons or nurses/ 
Then the wounded companions were separated and unknown to each other, 
until recently, after twenty-nine years, Adjutant Edwards, now a prominent 
lawyer in Virginia, by accident ascertained that the comrade whom he be- 
lieved dead is living, in the person of Launcelot Minor, colonel of the Second 
Regiment of Infantry, Arkansas State Guards, and a prominent lawyer of 
Newport, in that state. 

When Private Minor recovered consciousness he found a note pinned to 
the inside of his shirt, requesting that in case he died some one would give 
him decent burial, and a five-dollar gold piece was enclosed in the note to 
pay the expense. He still has the gold coin and wants to know from whom 
it came. 

The shadows of evening found our weary and starving soldiers in full 
possession of the battlefield at Cumberland Church and rejoicing over their 
last victory. The only rations which could be issued on this retreat were a 
few ears of corn to each soldier, but these men were of that pure metal 
which yields neither to danger nor hunger. 

Soon after dark the troops were withdrawn from this line of battle, and 
proceeded on the march toward Appomattox, where Mahone returned the 
silken trophies, which were so gallantly won at Cumberland Church, to his 
released prisoners. I was left to cover the retreat, with orders to withdraw 
my pickets from the line at three o'clock a. m., and follow the army. 

The long hours of darkness and anxiety dragged heavily along, while 
ever watchful pickets experienced the unpleasant anticipations of being 
killed or captured. On the hour and the minute we quietly withdrew from 
the field of the last victory of the lost cause. About eight o'clock next 
morning, the seventh of April, 1865, we overtook the army, and though des- 
perately tired, rejoiced with a " rebel yell " over our escape from capture, for 
which w r e received the congratulations of General Mahone. The following 
night we built our camp-fires on the brow of a hill and rested on our arms 
in line of battle for the last time. Before another sun gained the meridian, 
our arms were stacked and our battle-flags furled forever on the hills of 
Appomattox. 



AN ESCAPE FROM ANDERSONVILLE. 373 



AN ESCAPE FROM ANDERSONVILLE. 

By Francis Wallace. 

HEROES are plentiful after every war, because it is only in times of danger that the 
latent energies, stamina and sentiment of men are developed; no one can even 
judge himself, his courage no more than his endurance, until subjected to such 
supreme test as battle venture imposes. Now, at the close of the Spanish-American 
war, Uncle Sam rejoices in his noble sons who fought from merciful instincts, with 
compassion for the wrongs of Cubans, but always with impetuosity and unquenchable daring. 
Among the many humble heroes of our last war is Captain Francis Wallace, of the training 
ship " New Hampshire," whose adventures began when he was a boy, and whose life has been a 
succession of stirring, and generally daring events. His earliest danger was encountered in 
running the English blockade of the Baltic Sea, carrying guns to Russia, during the Crimean 
war. 

When the famous "foreign brigade" marched to the relief of Lucknow, in the terrible 
days of the Indian mutiny, Captain Wallace was one of the members; for two years he was on 
the Grinnell expedition searching in the arctic regions for Sir John Franklin; he was pilot of 
the " Monitor " in the famous battle with the " Merrimac; " he was a prisoner in Andersonville, 
from which he escaped after terrible sufferings and perils; he was with Farragut and Dewey at 
Mobile bay and New Orleans; he fell from a ship when many miles from 

land off the coast of Spain, and was rescued after being in the water Adrift in the Ocean, 
twenty-two hours. After serving on the " Monitor " for some time, Cap- 
tain Wallace joined the fleet further south. While cruising on a scouting party with Lieutenant 
Cushing — who destro} T ed the " Albemarle " — Captain Wallace and a coxswain named Riley 
were captured and taken to the Confederate prison at Camp Andersonville, where so many of 
the Union prisoners died. Escape was almost impossible, but Captain Wallace was one of the 
fortunate few who succeeded in crawling across the dead line, under the kindly shelter of mid- 
night darkness, and the special protection of Providence. Indeed, his life is a singular illus- 
tration of the exceptional fortune that belongs to the few, which seems to set at naught the 
laws of chance, and to furnish proof of the fatalistic doctrine " what is to be, will be." His 
life is not a romance, for it has been too invariable with hardships and hair-breadth escape, but 
it has been a strange one, that has run the whole gamut of human vicissitudes, and survived 
perils greater and more numerous than the pages of fiction have ever recorded. Some day, it 
is possible, Captain Wallace may conclude that posterity is entitled to read the story of his 
truly marvelous adventures, and will subject his modesty to the task of writing it, but to the 
present the following narrative is the only one he has ever been persuaded to write: 

After I had been at Andersonville for three weeks, I made up my 
mind that if I stayed there long I would either be shot by the guards or die 
from sickness and lack of food. So I made up my mind to escape. Riley, 
the coxswain, and two Union soldiers were in the . plan with me. For several 
days we saved up what food we could — it wasn't much — and one dark 
night we crept out to the dead line. We had to kill three sentries 



374 



AN ESCAPE FROM ANDERSONVIIXB. 



before reaching the stockade. We climbed over the stockade and 
pushed on in the darkness until we came to a river. There we sepa- 
rated. The soldiers wanted to push on across the country, but I knew we 
would be followed by bloodhounds, so after they left us Riley and I swam 
across the river and back three times, walking up and down the bank on 
each side in order to throw the bloodhounds off the trail. Then we climbed 
to the top of a big live-oak tree. 

From our station in the tree we could see the Confederates leave the camp 
in pursuit. They passed under the tree a number of times, but never 
thought of looking for us so near the camp. We stayed up in that tree for 
sixty-three hours, with some bacon rinds and pieces of cornbread as our 
only food. It was very cold at night, and we were far from comfortable, but 
we did not wish to go down until the pursuit had died away a little. Then 
I hailed a negro who was passing. 

" Lawd a' massa," said he, when he saw us coming down from the 
tree. "The soldiers have been looking everywhere for you." 

The darkey got us an old canoe and we made the trip to the coast. We 
traveled at night, and lay alongside of the bank during the day. When we 
reached the seacoast our troubles were by no means ended. All along the 
coast were divisions of the home guard, and they captured us. 

Four miles off the coast, almost out of sight of land, lay the United 

States gunboat " Unadilla." The waters of the South swarm with sharks, 

and no one for an instant suspected that we would dare to 

i!."xL h f L Wa , ter swim to the gunboat, so their vigilance was somewhat 
With Sharks. 6 '._ ' ' 55 

relaxed. But as there was no way of signaling the boat, 

we decided to swim for it. At midnight we slipped away from our guards 
and made our way to the beach. There a new danger awaited us. The 
southern waters are very phosphorescent at night, and if a man swims 
through them he leaves a trail which can be plainly seen. So Riley and I 
crept out as far as we could, keeping our bodies under water, and making 
no splashing. When we reached our depth, we struck out for the boat, 
swimming very cautiously until we were well out of gunshot. It was a 
mighty unpleasant experience. Four miles is a long swim for a man in the 
pink of condition, and we had been living on short rations for a long time. 
Then, too, we were afraid of sharks, and a number of times during the 
swim I drew up my legs suddenly and began to splash, thinking I had felt 
a shark giving a little nibble at my toes preparatory to a full meal. 

At last we got within hailing distance of the " Unadilla." I shouted 
to her, but at first they did not pay any attention to the hail. The Confed- 
erates were in the habit of rowing out near the gunboats at night, towing 



A GALLANT DEFENCE. 



375 



rude mines after them. Then they would light a slow match on the mine, 
hail the Federal boats and sneak off. The gunboats would send out 
small boats to see what the trouble was, and often be caught by the explod- 
ing mine. A number of men from the " Unadilla " had been killed in that 
manner, so when I called there was no response. I called a second and 
third time, but no answer. We were pretty well exhausted by this time, and 
had scarcely strength enough to swim the remaining distance to the gun- 
boat. I gave one more call. Standing at the gangway of the u Unadilla " 
was a man with whom I had sailed on several voyages. He recognized my 
voice, and we were soon on board. 



A GALLANT DEFENCE, 

BY LIEUTENANT R. H. Jayne. 

1 WONDER whether my young readers, in studying the accounts of 
battles and of fighting, always gather the full meaning of the struggle. 
You follow the story of Manassas, or Chickamauga, or Gettysburg, or 
Antietam, and are thrilled by the heroism displayed by both sides, but 
do you grasp the far-reaching consequences, the object of the engagements, 
and their effect upon the great issue itself? 

Now, the battle of Gettysburg was fought in the summer of 1863, an ^ 
was very near, in point of time, to the middle of the war for the Union, 
and yet Gettysburg, it may be said, decided the conflict. The Confederates 
came awfully near defeating the Army of the Potomac, but they failed, and 
when they failed it sounded the knell of the Southern Confederacy. General 
Lee and his officers saw that ultimate defeat was as certain as the rising of 
the sun ; they were simply fighting henceforward for terms. Neither army 
captured the other, and tremendous engagements followed and lasted for the 
better part of two years, but the sun of Southern independence was sinking 
steadily until at Appomattox it went down forever. 

What lad among you is not familiar with Perry's victory on Lake Erie, 
in September, 181 3? Perry had never seen a naval battle before, and for 
the first time in the naval history of Great Britain she surrendered an entire 
squadron to an enemy. That was a brilliant victory indeed. The Ameri- 
cans had but 55 guns, while the British had 63 ; yet our loss was only 27 
killed and 96 wounded. The British had 200 killed and wounded and lost 
600 prisoners. Commodore Barclay went into the battle with only one arm 



37^ 



A GAIXANT DEFENCE. 



and came out without any. The Englishmen fought gallantly, which 
makes the victory of Perry all the more creditable. 

But there was something more than a simple naval victory. Had Perry 
been defeated, the British General Proctor would have invaded Ohio. If 
Perry won, Harrison meant to invade Canada, with every prospect of great 
success. 

But I set out to tell you about one of the bravest exploits that marked 
our last war with Great Britain. 

At the beginning of the year 1813, General Harrison built Fort Meigs, 
on the right bank of the Maumee River. He had with him about twelve 
thousand men and selected this point as a convenient one for receiving 
supplies and reinforcements from Ohio and Kentucky, for protecting the 
borders at Lake Erie, and for aiding in the movement for the recapture of 
Detroit and the invasion of Canada. 

In the latter part of July, the British General Proctor and the great 
Shawnee chieftain, Tecumseh, with 5,000 English and Indians, appeared 
before Fort Meigs. Their wish was to induce the garrison to come out and 
fight them in the woods, but the Americans, with their inferior force, were 
too wise to do anything of that nature. Proctor manoeuvred and tried every 
possible trick until he saw his efforts were useless. Then he left Tecumseh 
with about half the force to keep up the vain effort, while he set out to 
capture Fort Stephenson, on the Sandusky, where Fremont now stands. 
Major George Croghan was in command of this fort. He was a youth not 
yet twenty-one years old, and he had as his garrison only about one hun- 
dred and fifty men. 

When Proctor appeared before Fort Stephenson he sent forward a flag 
of truce with the demand for surrender. " In case of refusal," he added, 
"your whole garrison will be tomahawked by the savages with me, for, as 
you are well aware, when their passions are aroused by the loss of any of 
their number, their fury becomes irrestrainable." 

The bearer of this terrifying message carried back the refusal of Major 
Croghan, with the appendix : "As to your threat of tomahawking us in case 
of capture, I have to say that it cannot affect the question, since when our 
surrender takes place there will not be left a man to tomahawk." 

This kind of talk was of the nature which may be described as mean- 
ing business. The British general had more than a dozen men to the 
Americans' one, and he was confident of speedily capturing the post. He 
began with a sharp bombardment, under which the British advanced against 
the fort. Major Croghan had only a single cannon, which he crammed to 
the muzzle with slugs and pieces of iron. Indeed, it looked as if the tremen- 



A GALLANT DEFENCE. 



377 



dous charge would burst the piece at the first fire. He masked it with great 
care and the enemy had no suspicion of the true state of affairs. The 
cannon was placed so that its muzzle could rake the long ditch on the 
north, into which the British and Indians were certain to enter. 

It may be doubted whether a single piece of ordnance of similar calibre 
ever did more effective execution. At the moment the ditch was swarming 
with enemies, rushing to the carnival of death, the weapon was fired. 
Instead of bursting, the slugs and bits of iron were driven among the 
crowding British and Indians, killing scores and wounding many more. 
The survivors scattered in a panic. 

This was just what Major Croghan was hoping would take place, but 
he knew his assailants would be back in a few moments and not a second 
was to be lost. The old cannon was hastily reloaded, and, as before, filled to 
overflowing with every sort of thing that was likely to do service. Then it 
was quickly placed so as to command the ditch again. 

The Americans had barely time to make ready for another charge when 
a second column plunged into the ditch and was received with the same 
destructive discharge as before. Meanwhile, it must not be supposed that 
the rest of the garrison was idle. They were firing as fast as they could 
reload their weapons and inflicting great loss upon their assailants. 

Proctor was anything but pleased with his attempt upon the little fort. 
He saw that it could not be taken without a siege and the loss of many more 
of his men. He might have attempted this had he not believed that General 
Harrison was somewhere in the neighborhood and would hasten to the relief 
of the garrison. He therefore withdrew, leaving the gallant Major Croghan 
master of the situation, and hero of one of the most gallant exploits in our 
history. 



HAVE YOU HEAD OF OUR LAND. 



HAVE YOU HEARD OF OUR LAND? 

By J. Waiter Henry. 

HAVE you heard of that land, o'er the western Atlantic, 
That land of delectable clime? 
Of her evergreen hill-tops and valleys romantic, 
And cloud-crested mountains sublime ? 

Of her cataracts roaring, their bright waters pouring 

Through gorges of grandeur and gloom, 
O'er whose ^cliffs of his eyry the eagle is soaring 

And bathing in sunlight his plume ! 

Of her deep cleaving rivers and rills, clear and sparkling 

With nectars by Nature bestowed ; 
And her blue Northern lakes, in whose bosoms are darkling 

The haunts for a mermaid's abode ! 

Then her harbors, her gulfs and her oceans, surrounding 

Her coasts on the south, east and west ; 
Of her woodlands and plains intervening, abounding 

In treasure which Nature hath blest ! 

Have you heard of her caverns deep under her mountains, 

The homes of grim spirits of old — 
Of their cool, silent lakelets and mystical fountains, 

And quarries of silver and gold ? 

Then her wonderful harvests of plenty and pleasure, 

Her grain and her cotton and cane, 
Her orchards and vineyards with fruit-laden treasure, 

And seasons which bring them again ! 

Have they told of her cities of wealth and of splendor, 

Mighty aids in the progress of time — 
Giant bulwarks of strength from her foes to defend her — • 

They rise in a grandeur sublime ! 



HAVE YOU HEARD OF OUR LAND. 

Have you heard that her sons are her pillars of glory, 
The strength and the pride of the land — 

As brave as the heroes of legend and story, 
And true as the truest they stand ! 

And, oh ! have they told of her beautiful daughters, 
Whose hearts but the truest hath won ! 

As fair as the foam on her magical waters, 
And pure as the rays of her sun ! 

Then of Justice, triumphant, great king of this nation, 

And Liberty, queen, by his side ! 
How they rule in their majesty, wisdom and station, 

t Co-equals in glory and pride ? 

In regions prolific, o'er the eastern Pacific, 

Where peace and prosperity dwell, 
Are the valleys of fruition and mountains terrific, 

Whose wonders of wealth ever swell ! 



From the gulf to the lakes this great country extends, 

And from ocean to ocean her boundary bends; 

On her landscapes of beauty the sun ever shines, 

And her bright star of destiny never declines ! 

For sweet concord her greatness and grandeur creates 

By a union of hopes — and a United States ! 



38o 



MARSE BILLY'S CLOSE CALL. 



MARSE BILLY'S CLOSE CALL 

By Pauune Shacklkford Colyar. 

I HEARD Uncle Mose singing as I neared his cabin, and I paused upon 
the threshold to listen. The sound was faint and muffled, coming, as 
it did, from the other side of the mud-daubed logs, but it brought to 
mind many happy moments of my childhood. He sang it to-day just 
as he did that morning so long ago, when we were gathering chincapins 
together in the back grove, and I asked him why people called a rabbit a 
" Molly Cotton-tail." 

" De raccoon's tail am ringed all 'roun', 
De 'possum's tail am bar', 
Po' rabbit got no tail at all, 

Nuffin' but er lettle bunch o' ha'r." 

" The top of the morning to you, Uncle Mose," I called out, pushing 
open the door. 

" G'long, Marse Torm ! " he retorted, laughing, while he peered at me 
from his accustomed corner by the great wide-mouthed fireplace ; " dat's de 
way you alius comes — same ez er gus' o' win'." 

I dropped upon the chair opposite him, and as my eyes grew accustomed 
to the semi-darkness within I noticed a superannuated trunk, thickly studded 
with brass-headed nails and to which a few stray patches of hair still clung, 
drawn up in front of the old man. In his lap he held a gorgeous flowered 
satin waistcoat, a pair of antiquated mutton-leg trousers and a yellow silk 
tie. In the open trunk lay a claw-hammer coat in affectionate proximity to 
a battered beaver hat. 

" Dis heah's whut I wants ter be buried in," he vouchsafed, as he depos- 
ited the tie in a vacant niche. " Dey's de same clo'es whar I wo' de day I 
driv ole Miss thoo de Yankee lines, comin' out f 'um Natchez — ole Miss, she 
settin' back in de kerrige, wid er big hoop-skyert on, an' two saddles and 
two pa'r boots fur de sojers, all hid under it." 

He was leaning over the trunk now and I could not see his face, but he 
straightened himself suddenly, and with a burst of hilarity continued : 

" De picket, he come up, an 1 he sez, sezee, 1 Nuffin' contrabang in dar ? 
Ole Miss, she sorter cl'ar her th'oat, an' she 'low, smilin', 1 Naw, suh, nuffin' 
'tall.' 

" Well, honey, dat did suttinly flo' dat picket, kaze ole Miss done fill de 
big kerrige up lebbel full, an' nary soul in dar 'cep' her. 



MARSE BILLY'S CLOSE CALL. 



38i 



" ( Does you know whut you puts me in min' ob?' he ax ole Mistiss, 
an' when she ain't answer, he sez, ' Why, madame, you puts me in min' o' 
de ole tukkey hin whar dey sot on er hund'ed aigs, an' tole her ter spread 
herse'f.' 

u Ole Miss, she riz her chin in de a'r, an' she nomernate ter me, 1 Dribe 
on, Moses ! ' an' I driv, too, chile, an' I ain't so much ez crack er smile, 
aldough dat picket wuz mos' bustin' his sides." 

For a moment Uncle Mose sat reflectively, rubbing the stubby growth 
of beard upon his chin ; then, as he smoothed out his satin waistcoat and 
laid it beside the coat, he announced : 

"But dat wuzn't nowhar ter der time Marse Billy had his close call. 
Yas, suh, dat wuz de las' ye'r o' de wah, an' ole Mose wuz straight ez er 
arrer, an' he could sling on de style, sho' nuff, wid dese heah duds on." 

He, chuckled softly, locked the trunk, and hobbling to the fireplace, 
deposited the key in a gourd which hung there. 

" Miss Kate, she done it all, too, aldough she wuzn't but sixteen," he 
asserted, as he resumed his seat. 

" Who was that ? Aunt Kate? What did she do ? " I inquired. 

" Now you's crowdin' me ! " warned Uncle Mose. " Dat's de way you 
alius does — axin' all dat 'dout ketchin' yo' bref." 

Uncle Mose and I understood each other thoroughly, so I sat awaiting 
his pleasure, while he lighted his pipe. He puffed at it vigorously for a few 
moments and then, crossing his legs, began : 

" Yas, suh, dat wuz yo' Aunt Kate, an' dis heah's whut I names yo' 
Unk Billy's close call. You see, Miss Kate, she alius mighty venturesome, 
an' up twell de time she growed ter er young lady fokes joke her 'bout bein' 
er Tormboy. But shucks ! Miss Kate ain't keerin', an' when she fo' ye'r ole 
she clamb er tree same ez er squirrel, an' stick on er hoss lak er cucklebuh. 
Her an' Marse Billy, beinst ez dey live on j'inin' places, wuz playin' toged- 
der an' sweetheartin' all dey libes. Marse Billy, he rid ober arter he done 
'listed, wid his sojer clo'es on, an' his pa's sode clinkin' 'g'in his spurs, to tell 
we all good-bye. He jes er boy hisse'f — tryin' ter sprout er mustache, but 
dey 'lect him cap'in o' his comp'ny, an' bofe famblies wuz monst'ous sot up 
'bout it. Dat ebenin', whilst de new moon wuz shinin', he say he bleeged 
ter start. He shake han's wid de niggers, an' kiss all de white fokes good-bye 
'cep' Miss Kate, an' him an' her, dey walk orf togedder, down todes de big 
gate. I come 'long berhine 'em, leadin' Flash, his wah 'hoss, an' by de water 
oak, on de fur side o' de pawn, I see Miss Kate pin er long white plume in 
his hat. I sorter cough easy, ter gib noticement ez I wuz dar, but I^awd, 
honey, when young fokes is co'tin' dey 'pears ter be deef an' bline, too. 



382 MARSH BUSY'S CLOSE CALL. 



Marse Billy, lie tek her in his arms, an' he kiss her saf ' an' lovin', an' she 
tu'n white ez er ghos', but her big brown eyes dey shinin' lak fire. ( I wish 
ter Gawd I could go wid you, an' fight fur my country, too,' she tell him." 

Uncle Mose rested both hands upon his knees, a meditative, far-away 
look in his eyes. 

" She stan' dar smilin' at him, and wavin' her leetle lace hankcher, 
jes ez long ez she kin see him, an' ain't nobody but me eber know how she 
fling herse'f on de groun' arter he done went, an' lay dar sobbin' an' cryin' 
wuss 'an she done de day Marse Billy kilt her pet rabbit wid his blow-gun. 

" Well, suh, dem wuz tumble times ! Ole Miss she look lak she 'mos' 
'stracted ev'y time she read in de papers 'bout de big battles whar dey fit, 
kase she cyant git no news o' yo' pa. You see, he wuz up in Ferginny, an' 
wunst he come home wid his arm broke, an' den ag'in dey shoot him in de 
leg, but scusin' er ball clippin' off Marse Billy's white plume, he writ Miss 
Kate ez how he ain't got er scratch. So one ebenin' whilst Ole Miss and 
Miss Kate wuz settin' on de big front po'ch knittin' socks an' scrapin' lint 
fur de sojers, a scout rid up ter de steps. His hoss wuz blowin', an' foamy 
wid sweat, he done come so farst, an' ez he HP his cap, he say, sorter chok- 
in', lak he cyant ketch his bref, 1 Miss Kate^try ter be brave. I'se fetchin' 
you Billy's love, an' he want me ter tell you he's gwinter die wid yo' name 
on his lips. Billy's been captured inside de Yankee lines, an' termorrer 
dey's ter hang him in Natchez fer er spy.' " 

Uncle Mose's pipe had gone out, so he laid it on the floor beside him, 
and sat there rubbing his gnarled hands. 

" Dat young sojer an' Ole Miss, dey breck down an' 'mos' cry dey eyes 
out, but aldough Miss Kate's lips wuz p'int'ly trimblin', she ain't drapt 
nary tear. 

" Dat's de time Miss Kate show her raisin'," he remarked, after a while, 
with a touch of pride in his tone. " When trouble gits rank, de quality 
alius comes up ter de scratch, an' dar ain't no scrub stock 'bout we all. 

" ' Unk Mose,' Miss Kate say, quiet lak, ( before' sun-down dis ebenin' you 
mus' git us ter Natchez.' 

" Twuz two o'clock den, an' my pa'r ole mules (whar wuz all de sojers 
done lef us) dey stove up an' po', an' fo'teen miles ter go. But I 'spon' ter 
her, ' Yes'm, we'll be dar on time.' So dreckly dey wuz all ready — Ole Miss, 
an' Miss Sue, an' Miss Kate, an' aldough de harness ain't nuffin but cotton 
ropes, an' de collars made outen shucks, I put on dis heah weskit wid de 
flowers lookin' ez fresh as dem in Ole Miss' flower gyarden, an' I cock my 
stovepipe hat on de side o' my haid, an' I driv thoo dem streets 'mos' big ez 
old Marster hisse'f. 



MARSE BUSY'S CLOSE CALL- 



" All de ladies, 'cep Miss Kate, got dey faces kivered up wid veils when 
we stop at de prison, an' er rared back, good-lookin' young feller, wid er 
gun on his shoulder, keep er trompin' up an' down befo' de do'. Ef eber 
you heerd er voice soun' sweet an' pleadin' twuz Miss Kate when she talkin' 
wid dat gyard. He p'int'ly spresserfy ter her dat she cyant go in. But 
whut 'pendence is dar in er man when er 'oman gits holt o' him ? 

" ' Oh ! suh, hab pity on us !' she tell him. ' L,et us see him jes five minutes 
ter say our las' goodbye. Mebbe you done lef somebody up home whar 
loves you lak I does him.' 

" Well, suh, 'twuzn't no wonder he say ' yas,' kase ef he hed ben er 
gineral stid o' er gyard, Miss Kate could er 'suaded him. He melt wuss 'an 
snow when de sun shine on it, an' when dey all come back ag'in, an' Miss 
Kate, she hoi' out her leetle han' ter him, an' ax Gawd ter bless him, whilst 
de res 's.clambin' in de kerrige, he wuz cryin' 'mos' bad ez we all. 

" Den I sez ter myse'f, is dis heah nigger gittin' bline ? I mek sho dar 
wuz jes three whut come wid me, an' now when we start orf dar wuz fo\ 

" Yas, chile, yo' Aunt Kate done it — she dress Mars Billy up lak er 
lady, wid er veil ober his face, an' she smile on dat gyard twell she 'mos' 
'tice his heart outen his jacket. He 'pear ter be er nice young feller, any- 
way, an' I 'low de good Lawd ain't sot it down ag'in him, kase he furgit ter 
count dat day. 

" Marse Billy, he j'ined his company on de road. home, an' you bet dar 
wuzn't no hangin' in Natchez nex' mawnin', but Gawd knows Marse Billy 
suttinly hed er monstrous close call" 



WAR SKETCHES. 



WAR SKETCHES- 

By General Horatio C. King. 

BEFO' de Wah " I was a student at Dickinson College, and among my 
classmates was a handsome Southerner, Jack C, from Winchester, 
Va., who became and remained until his death, a few years ago, 
my close and intimate friend. We exchanged visits in vacations, 
and I thus formed the acquaintance of a most lovely Southern family, typical 
in its hospitality and the warm welcome always extended their friend, a 
Yankee of Yankees ; for I was born in Maine. 

At graduation our paths divided, and a little more than two years after 
was precipitated the terrible Civil War. Jack's household comprised his 
father and mother, who were of middle age, one brother, a young clergyman, 
and a sister, Miss Joe, who had been reared in refinement, and was scantily 
equipped to battle with the severe privations and domestic services which 
the fortunes of war thrust upon her, but for which, like thousands of her 
Southern sisters, she found herself more than a match. Although primarily 
opposed to the secession of Virginia, loyalty to the State carried this family, 
heart and soul, with the Confederacy, and as Winchester became almost at 
the outset debatable ground, Mr. C. accepted a public office in Richmond, 
while the elder brother was appointed a chaplain, and Jack entered the ranks 
of the Confederate army. I had been in the Union service a little over two. 
years with the Army of the Potomac, when I received an order to report for 
duty to General Sheridan, in the Shenandoah Valley, with headquarters at 
Cedar Creek, about twenty miles beyond Winchester. Martinsburg was the 
base of supplies for the army, the railroad from Harper's Ferry to Winchester 
having been dismantled, and rendered unserviceable ; and I reported at Martins- 
burg to take advantage of the first supply train, under the 
Moseby^GucrrHlas escort °f a brigade, made necessary by the presence, not to 
say omnipresence, of Moseby's guerrillas, which regularly 
harassed the flanks, and on several occasions stampeded and carried off a 
portion of the train. It was late in October, and the nights were already 
pretty cold, when I reached Martinsburg. I found the town filled with 
wounded and stragglers, and visitors from the North in search of husbands 
and brothers killed or mutilated. At the depot, which I reached in the dusk 
of the evening, I found the platform completely filled with rude pine coffins, 
containing the killed, and awaiting shipment. To avoid the chilling air, 
for a stiff breeze was blowing, my clerk, orderly and myself tucked 



t 



WAR SKETCHES. 385 

ourselves away in a sheltered nook formed by the piled-up coffins, and wrapped 
in our warm blankets, with boots for pillows, we enjoyed, as well as we 
might, some of the comforts of a soldier's experience. The next day the 
supply train, two or three miles long, started for the front. Moseby's scouts 
kept us continually in sight, but the strength of our escort made any attack 
unwise, and none was attempted. 

It was about dark when we had covered the twenty miles between 
Martinsburg and Winchester. Although I had not heard from my old 
friends directly since the war began, and having some misgivings of the 
reception which might be accorded one of the " subjugators of their people," 
I nevertheless went at once to the hospitable residence on the outsk irts of the 
little old-fashioned town on the site classically denominated " Potato Hill." 
I had discarded the handsome dark-blue overcoat, the regulation dress for 
officers, as well as the dark-blue pants, and substituted therefor the more 
practical corduroy breeches and the blue overcoat issued to the rank and file, 
and thus caparisoned ascended the steps and rang the bell. The door was 
opened by the entire household, which comprised at that time Mrs. C, the 
daughter, and a bright little colored girl of about twelve, the whites of whose 
eyes fairly gleamed before the appalling presence of a Yankee soldier, For 
a moment not a word was spoken, Mrs. C. at length broke the silence by 
demanding the object of my visit, to which I made no 
reply. At length, impelled by their embarrassment and A He ^i C Q^ hern 
scarcely-concealed alarm, my face broke into a smile, 
and, with a cry of surprise, Joe exclaimed : " Why, Rashe King, you oW 
Yankee, go away from here !" at the same time grasping me by th& 
hand and drawing me into the house. The transition from anxious fear 
to unconcealed relief was immediate. The alarm was the sequence of 
a recent search of the house by a provost-guard for a Confederate flag, 
which, it had been reported, was concealed on the premises, and always 
appeared at the window when the fortunes of war returned Winchester 
into Confederate hands. I may as well mention in passing, that the flag 
was never captured, and I strongly suspected that when a raid was antic- 
ipated, it was worn as an under garment by Miss Joe, or was snugly 
tucked away somewhere in the region of as warm a heart as ever beat 
in woman's bosom for the Southern cause. After a ^pleasant evening, 
I returned to the depot headquarters, and the next day rode out to Cedar 
Creek, reported to gallant little Phil, and, after two weeks on his staff, was 
assigned, at my own and Merritt's request, to duty on the staff of General 
Wesley Merritt, then commanding the First Cavalry Division. Our head- 
quarters were in an old stone house, around which the battle had raged 
25 



3 86 



WAR SKETCHES. 



most fiercely, and the fields for miles were strewn with dead horses, broken 
gun-carriages and caissons, and the usual debris of a severe engagement. In a 
few weeks, the railroad to Harper's Ferry having been repaired, the army 
moved near to Winchester, our headquarters being established three miles 
from town, in a brick house, on the Front Royal road. The house was 
thoroughly ventilated, through the agency of an unfriendly shell, which re- 
moved enough of the front wall to drive a horse and cart through. Here we 
remained until February, though not inactively, making a raid into Loudon 
county, and two or three reconnoissances, merely to stave off ennui, and stir 
up ti e animals. As the su jr iy of 9,000 men and four-footed animals re- 
quired me to make almost daily visits to Winchester, I found it both con- 
venient and highly agreeable to have a room at the C.'s, 
Southern Cooking atl( ^ ^ servec ^ a ^ so as a protection to the family from strag- 
glers and night marauders, who gave a wide birth to any 
house where they knew officers to be quartered. Colonel Harry Crawford, 
our commissary, shared this hospitality, and a large part of our rations 
and many sutler's supplies reappeared in fancy and most palatable 
dishes on their table. Miss Joe, by stress of necessity, had become an 
experienced cook, and with some fine old sherry left in the wine cellar, could 
transform mutton into the finest venison stew I ever tasted. With equal 
magic, army hard-tack, and the harder the better, became a maccaroni au 
gratin, such as Delmonico's chef might have envied. By common consent, 
the topic uppermost- every where else, the war, was carefully avoided, after 
two or three discussions had bathed mother and daughter in tears. As I 
have intimated, Miss Joe was intense to bitterness against the invaders as a 
body, but as individuals, some of us at least had redeeming characteristics. 
Highly gifted in the finer lady accomplishments, she w T as especially skilled 
in embroidering, and had worked many Confederate national and war flags 
in handkerchief corners, one of which she presented to me. It was my 
patriotic desire to have her embroider what she pleasantly characterized as 
the "hated Yankee rag," and at this point the siege began. I approached 
her by parallels of unparalled importunities, but without fazing a muscle; I 
serenaded her with the Fifth Cavalry band, to no purpose ; I bombarded her 
with canned oysters and all the delicacies a sutler's tent affords ; I made all 
sorts of protestations short of a promise of marriage (which she would 
doubtless have rejected), but without avail. Finally, a brief leave of absence 
brought a suspension of hostilities, and I left for New York, to bring on my 
heavier guns. I have no doubt it was an inspiration which led me to Stew- 
art's and the purchase of a dozen lace handkerchiefs, such as the Confederacy 
had not seen since the blockade. Gold was 250, and these were a luxury even 



WAR SKETCHES. 



387 



in the New York market. But soldiers were notoriously profligate, 
and money was no object to men who were always sure of a funeral for noth- 
ing. Armed with these attractive missiles, I returned to 
the front and watched with intense interest the unlim- B|ue and the Grey 
bering of these new guns. The effect was magical ; the 
female heart rose superior to political sentiment, and there was an uncondi- 
tional surrender. In a few days I bore away the Union and Confederate flags 
worked in loving embrace by her fair hands, and if I was not rewarded by 
a brevet, with my name spelled incorrectly in the papers, I felt, neverthe- 
less, the glow of satisfaction which always follows a righteous success. 

It would make a very pretty and romantic ending to the narrative, by 
stating that I afterward married the young lady. Although I do not belong 
to George Washington Post, I cannot tell a lie. She is still unmarried. 

It is pleasant, also, in this connection, to mention another little amenity, 
which shows that war does not always blot out the better characteristics of 
human nature. At the edge of this town was a handsome cemetery, which 
became the last resting-place of many a gallant Confederate. 

The vandals of both armies, who had more regard for their own comfort 
than respect for the dead, had made sad havoc of the cemetery fence, and 
when our division arrived, there was scarcely a post left to mark the boun- 
daries of the sacred enclosure. General Merritt, with the tenderness which 
characterizes all brave men, determined that, the rights of the dead, as well 
as of the living, should be respected, and directed the writer to proceed, 
under an escort, to Berry ville (the haunt of White's and Moseby's guerrillas), 
and confiscate (steal is what the Berry ville people called it) enough rails to 
fence in the neglected cemetery. Merritt had none of the business reserve 
of the late Colonel Jim Fisk, who refused a subscription to erect a fence 
around a graveyard in Vermont on the ground that those who were out 
didn't want to get in, and those who were in couldn't get out if they wanted 
to. So we trotted off one fine morning with a company of cavalry and an 
extended train of wagons on this of-fence-ive and de-fence-ive expedition. 
That the expedition was a success may be inferred from the following report 
to headquarters of the quartermaster in charge : 

Headquarters First Cavalry Division, 
Army of the Shenandoah, In the FiEU), February //, 1865. 

Major A. E. Dana, A. A. G. 

Sir: — I have the honor to report that in compliance with orders, I yesterday took charge 
of fifty wagons and an escort of two hundred men and proceeded to Grimes' farm, about six 
miles beyond Berryville, for the purpose of securing rails to make a railing around the Win- 
chester cemetery. The column marched in good order, without incident, until we found old 



WAR SKETCHES. 



Grimes, who, by ancient tradition, is supposed to be dead. I have taken great pains to inform 
Mrs. G. that tradition, as usual, is at fault, and that the elder G. is anxious to fold her to his 
withered embrace. While on G.'s farm, a shot was fired at the party from a neighboring barn. 
The barn fort was charged, and the prisoner captured. A drum-head court-martial was imme- 
diately ordered, and the prisoner put on trial for his life. During the trial (which was sure to 
convict the bushwhacker), the president of the court, a man of weight, fell through the drum, 
and the proceedings were then declared null and void, it being impossible to hold a drum-head 
court-martial when the head of the drum was out. 

At this moment a sergeant reported the enemy, 2,000 strong, in line of battle, with drawn 
sabres, ready to charge. My first impulse — as I rather prefer the credit system — was to inform 
them to charge and be d — d; but on second thought I rode boldly to the summit of a hill and 
made a Napoleonic telescopic reconnoissance of the enemy through a hole in the crown of my 
hat. The sergeant, having reported artillery, I devoted my chief energies to that. The 
telescope developed numerous blue coats and several wagons. I returned to Grimes' field, 
and placed the teams in line of battle, the right resting on Mrs. Grimes' dairy and the left on 
the smoke-house in the rear— a strategic formation of the line required by the conformation 
of the ground. The enemy proved to be a detail from the Third Cavalry Division, and did 
not attack. My instructions to the teamsters, mules and other employes to charge for the 
nearest pike, in case of an attack, were not carried out. The expedition returned in safety to 
the Winchester cemetery, where it was received by a deputation of defunct Winchesterian 
skeletons, who rattled out their thanks and complained of being very dry. This last com- 
plaint is respectfully referred to the dispensers of commissary " benzine." 

LIST OF CASUALTIES. 

Six officers badly bored. 
250 men exceedingly hungry. 
Ten mules badly demoralized. 

The movement being strictly of-fence-ive, its success is worthy of the highest commenda- 
tion. The quartermaster in charge agrees to receive his reward in the shape of a brigadier- 
general's commission. 

REX, 

Captain, Quartermaster in Charge. 

The suggestion for the promotion was not honored, and " Rex " was 
left to wait for a majority, which came soon after. 

And this reminds me of a story told of Captain Isaac B. Parker, now 
deceased, a brave and gallant officer, who was a favorite aide on the staff of 

General Hancock. Parker was in Philadelphia, on leave 
Kenaga^s" Tavern °^ a ^sence, about the time when brevets were being handed 

around rather freely, and with a few friends, was enjoy- 
ing an evening at a suburban resort, called Kenaga's Tavern. Their fes- 
tivities were interrupted by a party of roughs, who, in view of Ike's uniform, 
began to speak slightingly of the Army of the Potomac, and to abuse the 
government for carrying on the war. Ike, who was not over five feet six, 
bore things patiently for a few minutes, but his indignation got the better 
of his discretion, and, selecting the rowdy nearest him, a man about twice 
his weight, planted a well-directed blow between the eyes and laid him 
sprawling on the floor. This gun was the signal for a general engagement 



WAR SKETCHES. 



389 



along the whole line, and in scarcely more time than it has taken me to 
write it, the roughs were cleaned out, and the " Second Corps " held the field. 

On his return to the front, Ike found that the fame of his adventure 
had preceded him. So, with great gravity, he put in a formal application 
for brevet, for gallantry in the engagement at Kenaga's Tavern. Although 
he did receive several brevets for conspicuous bravery, the name of Kenaga's 
Tavern does not appear upon the official parchments of the War Depart- 
jment. 

I think it not inappropriate to close this sketch by referring to a very 
happy reunion of the Blue and the Gray, in which I participated. On the 
4th of July, 1883, the cadets of the Virginia Military Institute, at Lexing- 
ton, visited New York, for the purpose, among other things, of returning 
the flag of the 155th Regiment of New York Volunteers, which had been 
captured by cadets, in the war, when they were suddenly called into the 
Confederate service. Colonel Mott Hall> who assisted in the capture, was 
present. The corps was under the command of Colonel Scott Schip. Presi- 
dent Arthur had previously welcomed the young men at the Fifth Avenue 
Hotel, and presented to them their diplomas. In a brief address, he 
expressed the hope that whenever the Union flag was assailed or in danger, 
the Virginia soldiers would be on hand to defend it. The sentiment was 
received with the old-time Confederate yell, that made the welkin ring. At 
the hall, many distinguished Union soldiers were present, and the formal 
return of the captured flag was made through Mayor Edson, in the Gov- 
ernor's room, from whose walls the life-like representations of many men 
noted in civil and military life looked benignantly down. The scene was 
an impressive one. The boys, in their handsome suits of gray, stood at 
attention. Colonel Portlock, holding the flag, said : 

" The standard-bearer, who is with us to-day, is a New Yorker, and I con- 
gratulate ourselves that we are here on this 107th birthday of the country, 
and that we stand shoulder to shoulder, the same as your Hamilton stood 
shoulder to shoulder with our Washington. But we pre- m 
sent this flag:, not so much as a memento of the war, as a , , _ 

& ' ' Loyal Reunion. 

testimonial to the men who fought as their honest con- 
victions directed them. Twenty years ago, many of us stood face to face 
in deadly strife. To-day, we stand as brothers, proud of our country. And 
over the graves of the dead on both sides of the conflict should be inscribed 
the epitaph which begins with the line : 

" 4 They did their duty as they saw it.' " 

This sentiment was received with loud cheers, and cries of 4 4 hear, 
hear." Colonel Mott Hall then said that it was a matter of fortune that his 



39Q 



WHEN YOU WORE THE YANKEE BLUE. 



men had been enabled to capture the flag, as in the darkness the Union 
forces sallied forth from their stockade, and thus exposed were easily cap- 
tured by superior forces. He was assured of the good feeling between the 
North and the South, however much politicians might attempt to misrepre- 
sent facts. "The war was inevitable," continued Colonel Hall, "because 
our hot blood had to be cooled in that way, but I am glad that it came in 
my day, and not to my children and their children. 

" I believe Providence was in the war, and if He had decided the vic- 
tory in our favor, I think He would have made a great mistake." 

There were more loud cheers and yells to mark the approval of this 
utterance. 

Mayor Edson replied that it gave him great pleasure, on behalf of the 
city, of New York, to welcome the visitors on their graceful errand of 
peace. " All differences," said he, " are now buried deep and forever, and 
this occasion has a far deeper significance in that regard than the mere 
restoration of that which was lost by the misfortune of battle. We will 
preserve this flag as an emblem of peace and good- will, and in the name of 
the people we welcome you to this metropolis." 

The war ended at Appomattox. We are one people, with one common 
destiny. " I^et us have peace." 



WHEN YOU WORE THE YANKEE BLUE. 

By John Talman. 

(Written for a Banquet of Veterans.) 
I 

TIME to pity is a stranger. To withstand his soulless force, 
Might of men and gods avails not ; for with grimmest unremorse 
Onward bears he men and nations, as on towering ocean waves, 
To the ultimatum Nature only speaks from open graves. 
But he is the surest healer. Bleeding wounds to-day there are 
Of whose traces shall the morrow only know the painless scar ; 
And one little generation hath sufficed almost to hide 
The abrasions from disunion and the blade of fratricide — 
Bridged the deep, broad, hideous chasms the distracted country knew 
In its days of sorest travail, when you wore the Yankee blue. 



WHEN YOU WORE THE YANKEE BLUE. 



39i 



II 

Cherished names and works of daring in " the times that try men's souls n 

Speak with mute yet moving eloquence from out your muster-rolls, 

And the memories of your faith and heroism half divine 

Do not wait upon the lifting of a feeble voice like mine ; 

But as one among the millions of the proud and grateful sons 

In whose veins, prized like a fetish, blood of martyred patriots runs ; 

Fain would I partake in spirit of each pleasing social rite — 

Touch some chords of recollection at your merry board to-night ; 

Thankful to the phantom thousands who to rest preceded you — 

Thankful to the dead and living who have worn the Yankee blue. 

III 

From the sluggish, bracken current of Potomac's languid stream 

To the shambles of Manassas with destruction all agleam, 

With what rigid resolution and strong purposes you strode, 

Though its seeds the murderous genius of annihilation sowed ! 

Never did you pause or falter, though the smoke of Malvern Hill, 

Antietam's field, the carnage of the awful Chancellorsville, 

With disaster supplemented and with newer horrors crowned 

The mad rout of Pittsburg Landing and the blood of Shiloh's ground. 

History never can emblazon with the meed of praises due, 

The sublime, immortal courage that was garbed in Yankee blue. 

IV 

O, the clashing, crushing tumult that its furious presence wreaked 

On the air when mortars thundered and the shells like harpies shrieked ; 

When the chain-shot brought its summons and the war god's foaming wratn, 

Hurtling fire and blood in tempests, cleaved a wide, hadean path ! 

In what hot, death-dealing madness mingled chargers, friends and foes 

While the musketry was rattling and the sabres fell and rose ! 

Detonating cannon drowning with their roar curses and groans — 

Ambulance and caisson threading causeways made of human bones — 

Veterans ! rise they not, in shadow, to your retrospective view, 

Now, as when you first beheld them, when you wore the Yankee blue ? 

V 

O'er the rifle-pit the ivy long hath clambered since the day 
That from Gettysburg's red summit fell the tide of death away ; 
Since the victor's noblest laurel was embossed upon our shield 
By the compact of reunion at xAppomattox sealed. 



392 



THK CHARGE OF PICKETT'S DIVISION. 



There's new meaning in the eagle's sweeping flight from crag to crag 

For again the Sonthron loyally upbears Columbia's flag ; 

With his' gaze upon a future full of largest promise set, 

Not for him to hunt old graveyards of resentment and regret, 

You to-night extend erst wearers of the gray the brave man's due — 

Comradeship among the soldiers who have worn the Yankee blue. 

VI 

Time shall see the world divested of contention's livid stain — 

Progress' never-folding pinions loftier mountain peaks shall gain ; 

But while oceans heave, suns rise and set and Freedom claims her own, 

Gratitude the flaming bivouacs of your perils will enthrone. 

Dear and glorious old campaigners, with your bosoms ever warmed 

By the consciousness inspiring of all duty well performed ! 

Be the wine that brims your beakers like ambrosial streams that flowed 

For the godhood of Olympus, and undying youth bestowed ! 

Three times three, then, to your honored heads ; they wear the gray, 'tis true, 

But your hearts this hour, as ever, wear the same old Yankee blue ! 



THE CHARGE OF PICKETT'S DIVISION. 

By James H. Walker, 

{Formerly First Sergeant, Company K, Ninth Virginia Infantry \ Armistead's Brigade. ) 

ON THE first of July, 1863, Pickett's Division of Virginians was the 
rearguard of the " Army of Northern Virginia," and at night was 
bivouacked near Chambersburg, Pa., about twenty miles from 
Gettysburg. 

The division was composed of three brigades, commanded by Armistead, 
Garnett, and Kemper, the first two being formerly United States Army 
officers. General George B. Pickett was also at one time an officer in the 
United States Army, and had gained much notoriety previous to the Civil 
War, as the officer commanding the United States troops which were ordered 
to take possession of the Island of San Juan, when a dispute occurred with 
Great Britain as to who had the right to occupy it. As I have said before, 
Pickett's Division was lying at Chambersburg on the night of the first of 
July, and had no intimation that they would be called on to take part in the 
battle which was going on at Gettysburg. 



THE CHARGE OF PICKETT'S DIVISION. 



393 



The men were quietly sleeping after a most fatiguing march, and many, 
no doubt, dreaming cf their homes along the Atlantic and Chesapeake, and 
others of their mountains and beautiful valleys, and in 
their dreams, perhaps, felt the warm kiss of their loved ^o^e^OnTs. ° f 
ones. All at once the long roll was sounded, and these 
visions vanished as they awoke and realized that grim war was still rampant. 

The division was ordered, about i a. m., to " pack up," and while doing 
so, it was rumored that in the engagement at Gettysburg, on the first, Hood's 
Division of Texans, which we considered one of the very best in our army, 
and, in fact, a crack division, had been repulsed in charging Cemetery 
Heights, with frightful loss, and that it was the intention of General L,ee to 
hurl his Virginia division against this terrible position as a forlorn hope. 

The division moved about 3 a. m., July 2, and inarched as rapidly as 
circumstances would permit, but as the roads were blocked with wagons, 
artillery and the wounded of both armies, it frequently had to leave them, 
and enter the woods or fields of ripening grain. It arrived within two miles 
of Gettysburg, about 2 p. m., and immediately went into camp, and as we 
were doing so, a courier rode up and informed us that McL,aw's Division of 
Georgians had just made a charge on Cemetery Heights, and had been 
repulsed with terrible loss, as Hood's Texans had been the day previous. 
The above divisions, with Pickett's, formed Longstreet's corps d' armee, and 
it seemed that each of his divisions was to have the honor of making the 
assault, but so far the skill of Hancock and the bravery of his men had 
frustrated each attempt. We were now informed that General Pickett had 
orders to hurl his division against this position next day, unless the artillery 
should succeed in dislodging them. The following day we took position in 
battle, with the command to lie down, as in a short time one of the most 
terrible artillery duels would be fought which had ever been witnessed. 
General Lee had massed in front of the division about 120 pieces of artillery, 
and they were to open^ on Cemetery Heights, and endeavor, if possible, to 
dislodge the enemy. This cannonading commenced about noon, and as our 
guns opened, the enemy replied by a fire from about one hundred pieces. 
If mortal has ever witnessed a more terrific fire than oc- 
curred about noon on the third of July, 1863, then history The most Terrific 

J J) °\ J Artillery Duel of 

has not recorded it. The earth was shaken by its roar, such thc War 
as probably the younger Pliny mentioned in his descrip- 
tion of the eruption of Vesuvius, when Pompeii and Herculaneum were 
destroyed. The sky was black with smoke, and livid with the flame 
belching from the mouths of these horrible engines of war. Under all of this 
terrific cannonading, Pickett's Division was lying awaiting it to cease. 



394 



THE CHARGE OF PICKETT'S DIVISION. 



Round shot whistled through the trees, cutting limbs from them 
which fell upon us. Shells burst over our heads, and scattering fell among 
us, dealing destruction within our ranks. Our artillery, which was 
about one hundred yards in front, were firing almost with the rapidity of 
musketry, and the enemy, who seemed to have a most deadly aim, threw 
shells amongst us, apparently at every shot blowing up caissons, and killing 
horses and men. When the shells flew over the artillery, they almost invari- 
ably exploded within the ranks of the division, which seemed doomed to 
destruction without even the opportunity of firing a gun. Whilst this 
shelling was going on, General Armistead, our brigade commander, passed 
in front of his command and informed his men that unless the artillery 
succeeded in dislodging the enemy from Cemetery Hill, we were to charge 
the position. 

The division knew the thing was most desperate, for they had been told 
that two attempts had already been made, one by McEaw's Division, and the 
other by Hood's, and both had been repulsed with heavy loss — although the 
men knew this, apparently there was no dread upon the face of any man. They 
seemed determined to win for Virginia and the Confederate States a name 
which would be handed down to posterity in honor, and which would be 
spoken of with pride, by not only Virginia, but by all America. And they 
succeeded, for not only have their foes accorded them the 
Stillness that Pre- crowll of laurel, but England herself spoke words of praise 

ceded a Storm of . . ' f • ^ ■ f , , , r 

Death. * or these men whose Anglo-Saxon blood nerved them to 
such a brave deed. But to return to the scene of action. 
The artillery, after throwing round-shot and shell into each other for an 
hour, suddenly ceased on the part of the Confederates. The enemy also 
discontinued firing, and the stillness of death succeeded a noise and tumult 
which must have been equal to that with wfaieli the gods assailed the Titans. 

The Virginians were soon made aware that the artillery had not suc- 
ceeded in driving the enemy from their strong, and se-emingly impregnable 
position, for word came down the line from the right that they were to 
charge. All were on their feet in a moment, and ready ; not a sound was 
heard ; not a shot was fired from any part of the field. The command 
"forward" was given, and in five minutes they had left the woods which 
had concealed them during the artillery fight. As we emerged from cover 
and passed through our artillery, which was immediately on the verge of 
the woods, the latter raised their hats and cheered us on our way. As soon 
as the artillery on Cemetery Hill discovered the line advancing, they opened 
fire. They were, when first seen, about a mile immediately in front, with 
nothing between us but two fences. 



THE CHARGE OF PICKETT'S DIVISION. 



395 



The division advanced steadily, in quick time. A band on the extreme 
right playing in the same manner that it would had the division been 
passing in review, they continued to march forward and the band continued 
to play. 

The shells flew far over us at first, but this lasted but a moment. They 
soon obtained the range, and then Death commenced his work of destruc- 
tion. All of the division had been quite near him before, but on this occa- 
sion he seemed to be pressing on them so slowly and so steadily and closely 
it was enough to make the bravest quail under his ghastly appearance. But 
they went on without flinching ; now they have passed half the distance up 
the hill, and the enemy pour grape and canister into the ranks, causing 
such wide gaps the division has to be halted and dressed to the right ; 
obliquing and filling up their gaps, they continue to push forward. The 
infantry now pour their fire into them from behind a stone wall, and their 
ranks begin to melt away ; men are falling in every direction ; but still they 
press on with the wild yell peculiar t^> Confederate soldiers. They do not 
hear the band now, it is drowned in the fearful uproar ! Round shot, shell, 
canister and rifle balls are poured into them at close range 
from the front, and a battery on Round Top rakes the * V ^' *[ g ? 1 

. ■ J r to the Death ! 

line from the right. General Armistead is in front of his 
brigade with his hat on his sword and holding it up as a guide. As they 
were within two hundred yards of the batteries a yell was given, and a dash 
made for them. The artillerymen left their pieces, and the whole line of 
thirty- two guns was carried at the point of the bayonet, General Armi- 
stead falling dead — shot with his hand on one of the guns. They did all that 
was expected, and this charge will be remembered by future Americans 
as the English remember that of the Iyight Brigade, and the French that 
of the Old Guard. 




396 



SOUTHERN BOYS AT WEST POINT. 



SOUTHERN BOYS AT WEST POINT. 

By Thomas W. Hall, West Point, '87. 

WHEN I was requested to write a short article 011 the relations 
between the Southern and the Northern boys at West Point, 
during the four years of hard labor I spent at the great military 
academy, I had to frankly acknowledge that I knew nothing 
about such relations. There was nothing in my memory to distinguish the 
boys of the South from the North. My classmates were all classmates and 
friends to me, whether they came from Maine or Texas, Illinois or Florida, 
and, to save me, I cannot to-day make more than a guess as to the birthplace 
of more than a corporal's guard of our unusually large class — which was, I 
think, the third largest in the history of the Academy. 

The very idea that I knew so little about the geographical relations of 
my classmates, however, gave me an idea for a story that is not unimportant, 
when one is considering the relations of the reconstructed 

N ° S !?.! i0 ?o ? C,lng States to the Northern States. It convinced me at once 
at West Point. 

that there could have been no sectional feeling at the 
Academy on the Hudson while I was there ; and I feel perfectly warranted 
in saying that there never has been any since the war. 

Perhaps the first notice I ever took of a geographical distinction between 
army officers was at a meeting of the younger officers, or " youngsters," of 
the Tenth United States Cavalry at Fort Grant, Arizona, to celebrate the 
Christmas of 1887. I had but recently joined, and was the lowest ranking 
lieutenant in the regiment. I was a "shave tail" of the "shave tails," to 
use an army expression, and was commonly called "kid" by the fellows 
who happened to rank me by a day, a month, or a year in the grade of 
second lieutenant, and was treated with fatherly care by the fellows who 
wore the single bars of a first lieutenant. 

It was " Polly " Clark, who called my attention to the fact that I was 

the only lieutenant in the regiment, graduated from West Point, who had 

been born north of Mason and Dixon's line. The amount 

An American Officer > t , . - 

:„ *u. r- ~ or fun that was poked at me on this account was enormous. 

in the German * 

Army. I sincerely hope that the Hussar officers of the regiment 

Clark served with recently, in the German army, gave him 
the same sort of joking for being the only American officer who ever held a 
commission in a foreign army. 



SOUTHERN BOYS AT WEST POINT. 



397 



And yet, I do not believe that any man in the world could have told 
that all those dashing young lieutenants were from the South. They were 
all of the customary West Point mould, and I might say right here, that 
after three or four years of West Point discipline, cadets are as alike as two 
peas, except, perhaps, as regards height and weight and the color of the 
hair. I remember that we all took the same oath of allegiance, and went 
through the same hard mill of hazing, and the more disagreeable mill of 
study, and came out lieutenants, with painfully new clothes — and immense 
debit accounts with New York tailors and furnishers. 

On looking over the West Point register of 1887, I find that there was 
a great preponderance of Northern boys over Southern boys in our class. 
I think this was due more to the superior public and other schools of the 
North than to anything else, although the Southern boys in the class seem 
to have held more than their own in studies. The difficulty of the Southern 
boy seems to be to pass the first examination. After that, apparently, he is 
all right. As I see it now, never having examined into the matter before, 
the Southern boys and the Northern were about evenly balanced physically. 
The tallest man in our class was from Illinois ; the next in height was from 
Virginia ; the largest man was from Missouri, and the next from Ohio. 
With the exception of one or two, I remember but very few traces of the 
Southern peculiarities of speech, and I can say the same about the down- 
East Yankees of the class. In fact, the Western boy seemed to predominate, 
and to be more of a noticeable entity than either the Southern or the 
Northern boy. 

The president of our class, and one of the most popular men in the 

Academy during my time, was a Southern boy, and the son of a Southern 

soldier. He is a cavalryman now, in one of Uncle Sam's 

most celebrated regiments of horse, and he was captured, _ A Northern G,rl 
. ... .. ' 11 Captures a Southern 

at least his heart was, not very long ago, by a grand- Soldier. 

daughter of old Ben Wade, just as the same thing is 
presented to us every day in the war dramas of the stage. There was 
never any sectional feeling in our class, and I am sure that the same 
thing can be said of all others. The man from Ohio roomed with the 
man from Georgia, and if they happened to quarrel concerning whose 
turn it was to bring a bucket of water from the hydrant in the area of the 
barracks to their room, it was quite likely that a man from Louisiana would 
second the man from Ohio in the ensuing fight, and that a man from Ver- 
mont would attend to such delicate duties for the Georgian. In fact I have 
seen just such a state of affairs, now that I have come to look matters up. 



SOUTHERN BOYS AT WEST POINT. 



Our songs used to be evenly divided between Southern and Northern 
compositions. I do not think it was intentional, either. In fact, I do not 
believe any of the boys thought anything about the old sectional differences 
of their fathers. No one will suppose for a moment that the memory of 
the war will make the Southern officer in the army of to-day any less useful 
than another. The record of the young Southerners has been, to use a 
popular phrase, " as fine as silk." 

In this connection, I recall sitting before a log fire in my quarters, at 
Fort Apache, entertaining my guest for a few days, a young lieutenant of 
infantry, who was the son of a famous Confederate cavalry general. How 
the subject came up I do not remember, but I do know J:hat he told me a 
circumstance connected with the reception of his commission in the United 
States Army that impressed itself very deeply on my mind. 

" When I received my commission," he said, " I hardly knew how to 

approach my father. He knew that I was about to become a commissioned 

officer of the United States Army, and I knew that he was very proud of my 

record. Yet he had never said a word about my military ambitions. I left 

the commission in a conspicuous place on his library table, and went out on 

the veranda for a smoke. In a little while, my father followed me there. 

He walked up to me, and took my hand in his. ' Bob,' he said — there were 

tears in his eyes — 1 promise me one thing.' I asked him what it was. 

* Never go back on the old flag,' he answered. I pressed his hand in assent, 

and we have never spoken of the matter since. But I 

A /». th t r ?_,? Cq » eSt know that he thinks my life a direct continuation of his 
of His Soldier Boy. J 

own." 

It is a trifle off the subject, but I think the greatest and most valuable 
feature of the regular army of the United States of America is the union in 
it — and harmonious union, too — of Southern impetuosity and Northern grit. 
It is like a union of Great Britain and France. These have been the two 
greatest fighting nations of the world, and whenever they combined they 
were invincible. At any rate, we may be sure that whether or not we have 
the money or the guns, in any future war we have the men. 



e 



REMINISCENCES OF McCLELLAN AND JACKSON. 



REMINISCENCES OF GEORGE B. McCLELLAN AND 
"STONEWALL " JACKSON. 

By George B. McClellan, Jr. 

THE firing of the first gun at Fort Sumter separated my father from 
very many of the dearest and best friends of his youth and earl\ 
manhood. u Stonewall " Jackson, Dabney H. Maury, Cadmus M. 
Wilcox and Samuel B. Maxey were his classmates, while Simon 
B. Buckner, Barnard E. Bee and A. P. Hill were cadets with him at West 
Point. G. W. Smith commanded the company of sappers and miners to 
which my fathei was attached during the Mexican War ; Robert E. Lee 
was the chief engineer of General Wool's army, and Joseph E. Johnston was 
intimately associated with him. 

My father used to say that he never saw West Point do more good to a 
man than it did to "Tom" Jackson. " Tom," said my father, "during 
c pleb ' year was an awkward, bashful boy, who came to the Point with the 
worst sort of a preparation and apparently no fitness for a military career. 
His pluck was something absolutely marvelous. I have seen him night after 
night, after taps had been sounded, rake up the fire, take his book, and, 
lying down Vvith his head near the fireplace, study by the firelight until 
three or four o'clock in the morning. Tom came very near being 1 found * 
in pleb year, but by almost superhuman work he not only pulled through 
all right, but graduated seventeen in the largest class West Point had turned 
out up to that time. If ever a man deserved success and fame it was dear 
old Tom Jackson." 

I was once told a story by my father that certainly showed more pres- 
ence of mind on the part of the actors than it did regard for the regulations ; 
at least he seemed to think so, for he stopped to laugh several times during 
the telling. In their second class year at West Point he and u Jininiie " 
Stuart, who was afterward killed by Indians, roomed together in the old 
North Barracks, and, as I remember, Dabney H. Maury and Cadmus M. 
Wilcox roomed next door. It was during the palmiest days of Benny 
Havens, when no cadet was considered worthy of his uniform unless he paid 
that revered old person a periodical visit. 

" Jimmie, Cadmus, Dabney and I," said my father, " agreed to celebrate 
Thanksgiving Day with a grand supper. We asked Sam Maxey to join us, 



4 oo REMINISCENCES OF McCLELLAN AND JACKSON. 



but as he was on guard duty that night he couldn't. Well, we agreed to slip 
off in the afternoon, lay in supplies at Benny's, and eat and drink them up 
after taps. Jimmie Stuart had raised five dollars sorne- 

A Beer C Anecdotc nd ^ 0W 01 otner > so there was nothing at Benny's that was 
too good for us. We laid in a supply of beer and cakes. 
It was about all you could get at Benny's. Dabney Maury carried the beer, 
I carried the cakes, and Jimmie Stuart and Cadmus Wilcox did scouting duty. 
My cakes were big, flat gingerbreads, piled one on top of another, and, as 
they were not wrapped up, I had all I could do to balance them by using both 
hands. Dabney was even worse off with the beer bottles. We got along 
all right, passed the post limits in safety, and had nearly reached the bar- 
racks without being seen, when suddenly Jimmie Stuart cried, ' Look out ! ' 
and took to his heels, closely followed by Cadmus Wilcox. ( What's the 
matter?' I said. 1 Look !' said Dabney, and I looked. Not twenty yards 
from us, and bearing right down on us, was old General Scott, flanked on one 
side by Mrs. Scott and on the other side by Miss Camilla. They saw us and 
there was no escape. By halting and saluting we should have had to drop 
our bottles and cakes and run the risk of smashing them. 1 We're in for it, 
Dabney,' I said, 4 look straight ahead and pretend not to see him. It is our 
last chance.' And so we did. As we came near them we executed a column 
half right and passed by. The general grew very red, looked straight to the 
front and said nothing. After we had got by we heard what sounded very 
much like several people laughing. At any rate," said my father in conclu- 
sion, " we had our supper and weren't reported. And I have often thought," 
he said reflectively, g that Miss Camilla saved us." 

At the breaking out of the Mexican War the government organized a 
company of engineer troops, or, as it was called, " sappers, miners and pon- 
tooneers," and Captain Alexander J. Swift was put in command. Captain 
Swift had graduated head of the Class of 1830, and was the son of General 

Joseph G. Swift, who had graduated head of the first class that ever left 
West Point. Gustavus W. Smith, or, as he was always called, " G. W.," of 
the Class of 1842, was the acting first lieutenant, and my father was the 
second lieutenant. Soon after reaching Mexico, Captain Swift became ill, 
and went to New Orleans on sick leave. He died there April 24, 1847, in 
the thirty-eighth year of his age. The command of the company then 
devolved upon G. W. Smith, who held it throughout the war. He and my 
father lived together as long as they were in Mexico. 

After the City of Mexico had been captured, but before the desultory 
firing from the roofs of houses had altogether ceased, " G. W." and my father 
were passing through a very narrow street, when a sharpshooter on the roof 
of a neighboring house attracted their attention. u Let's go up and settle 



REMINISCENCES OF McCLELLAN AND JACKSON. 



him," said my father. "All right," answered u G. W." So, leaving the small 
detachment they had with them below, they started after their victim. 
When they reached the roof they found that the sharpshooter had been 
killed by some one in the street, so they started down-stairs again. It was 
the usual Mexican house, with a flat roof and long, narrow passages. When 
they reached the second floor "G. W." said to my father : " Mac, it's rather 
curious that there is no one in this house ; I wonder what's behind that 
door ! " They found the door locked and the key on the outside. Unlock- 
ing it, my father walked in ahead of "G. W." He had 
hardly crossed the threshold when, without a sound, a man Adventure with 
jumped at his throat, tripped him up, and with great dex- f n Mexico 
terity proceeded to choke him. "G. W." was — luckily for 
my father — right behind him, and as soon as he saw what had happened 
threw himself into the fight. After some minutes they succeeded in tying 
up their assailant and turned him over to their escort. He was mad, there 
was no doubt of it, stark, staring mad ; but although "G, W." and my 
father spent many months in the City of Mexico, and made all possible 
inquiry, they were never able to find out who he was nor how he had got 
into the house and room where they had found him. 

In 1847 the Aztec Club was organized in the City of Mexico by a num- 
ber of the United States officers quartered there. The club's first president 
was General Franklin Pierce, subsequently President of the United States, 
and among its members who afterward became prominent in the Confederacy 
were P. G. T. Beauregard, Barnard E. Bee, Joseph E. Johnston, Robert E. 
L,ee, G. W. Smith and Cadmus M. Wilcox. Jefferson Davis, although he 
never belonged to the club, was intimate with most of its older members. 
My father used to say that Joseph E. Johnston was the most popular mem- 
ber of the club. " Everyone called him Uncle Joe," he said, " everyone 
liked him and he seemed to like everyone. I know that I have never had 
a better friend nor one I cared more for than Uncle Joe." 

Years afterward, at my father's marriage, he wrote to General Johnston : 

Dear Uncle Joe: 

Aren't you coming to my wedding ? I shan't feel that I am married unless you are there. 

Strangely enough, only the other day, while looking through my 
father's papers, I came across a little narrow envelope, yellow with age ? 
and sealed with an old-fashioned wafer. It was addressed to Captain 
McClellan, and was as follows J 
Dear Little Mac: 

Of course I shall be at your wedding. I shouldn't consider you married unless I were 
there. Your friend, Joseph E. Johnston. 

26 



4 o2 REMINISCENCES OF McCLELLAN AND JACKSON. 



Their friendship lasted through life, and was only interrupted during 
the few years that they fought against each other in the late war. They had 
always respected and cared foi one another, but, as General Johnston said to 
me, "You never know what's in a man until you try to lick him." When 
the war was over they really knew each other better, and admired each other 
more than they ever had before. Toward the close of my father's life he 
was lucky enough to see more of General Johnston than he had in some 
years. It made them young again to be together, and, with General Wilcox 
as a third, I have often heard the Mexican War fought over again. They 
never mentioned the Civil War, but by common consent -dropped from their 
reminiscences the period from 1861 to 1865. The last act of the friendship 
of Uncle Joe and Little Mac was played by Uncle Joe alone, when he acted 
as one of Little Mac's pall-bearers. 

Jefferson Davis was the Secretary of War who sent my father to the 
Crimea. It had been decided to send a commission of three to Europe, " to 
study the art of war," as practiced by the Russians and 
McCleHan's their a ]ii es< Although Captain McClellan, as he was then, 

Opinion of , . . , - 

Jefferson Davis. was otl v twenty-nine years old when he was sent to 

Europe, he had impressed Colonel Davis so favorably, 
while in Mexico, that his name was the first that the Secretary suggested to 
the President as a member of the commission. My father had ample oppor- 
tunity to form an unbiased opinion of Colonel Davis, for both before 
leaving for Europe and after his return, he spent some time in Washington, 
in constant communication with the Secretary. His opinion of Colonel 
Davis was as favorable as was Colonel Davis' opinion of him. " Colonel 
Davis," he said, " was a man of most extraordinary ability. As an execu- 
tive officer, he was remarkable. He was the best Secretary of War — and I 
use ' best ' in its widest sense — I have ever had anything to do with." 

With singular appropriateness, one of my father's last public appear- 
ances was on the battlefield of Antietam, at a " Blue and Gray " celebration, 
on Decoration Day, in 1885. During our stay near Sharpsburg, we were the 
guests' of that gallant gentleman and beau ideal of Southern chivalry, 
Colonel Kyd Douglass, who had been General Robert E. Lee's chief 
of staff. Certainly a striking illustration of our country's greatness and 
unity — George B. McClellan shown over the battlefield of Antietam by the 
man who had been closest to his great opponent. My father was very much 
surprised to learn from Colonel Douglass that the dead of North and South 
were not buried side by side in the cemetery. " I can't understand why it 
should be so," he said. " Surely the past has been forgiven and forgotten. 
We who are left have ceased to bear ill-will, and are all loyal children of our 



WITH BUCHANAN ON THE " TENNESSEE." 



country. If we don't draw the line among the living, why should we do it 
among the dead ? Were they who died for what they thought right alive 
to-day they would be the first to wish it otherwise. Bury our dead of both 
North and South side by side. They would have wanted it so." 

The next day, after we had left Hagerstown, he said to me : " I am 
very glad that I have been back to Antietam, and have had a chance to 
speak to some of my boys, and to some of I^ee's, too. It has brought nearer 
to me the fact that, thank God, the war is over forever. Seeing my boys 
talking and eating and drinking with those fellows in gray, and seeing crops 
growing where I last saw Hunt's artillery, makes me feel that war is, after 
all, a pretty bad substitute for peace." 



WITH BUCHANAN ON THE "TENNESSEE." 

By D. B. Conrad, M. D., 

{Late Fleet Surgeon^ U. S. Navy and C. S. Navy.) 

THIRTY-FIVE years ago a memorable action was fought in Mobile 
Bay, between ironclads of different type, design, and armament ; 
one with a shield and rifled guns, the other with turrets and 
Dahlgrens (smooth-bores). Many men are now living in New 
Orleans and Mobile who participated in or saw this conflict ; there are 
many sons and daughters of the men living who have heard of it at the 
fireside. There are many others who have never heard of the fight, fought 
so near their homes, born and grown to full estate since that sorrowful 
period. For these, too, I write. 

The Bay of Mobile was of infinite use and importance to the Confeder- 
ates, who guarded and held it by two forts, Morgan and Gaines, at its 
entrance. By holding it they r held safe the city of Mobile from attack by 
water • it could only be captured by a combined army and navy attack, so it 
was a safe depot for blockade-runners, easy to go out of and enter, and if it 
was so important to the Confederates, how much greater 
was it to the Federals ? For they were compelled to keep H £™ s Defended^ 
their large blockade fleet outside, exposed to all the storms 
of the gulf. They could only be victualed and watered by going away, one 
at a time, to Pensacola, their only port ; their sick had to be transported 
to the same place, and the wear and tear both to vessels and crews was 



WITH BUCHANAN ON THE ' ' TENNESSEE. ' ' 



fearful, as a constant, vigilant and never-ceasing watch, both by officers and 
men, had to be kept up, day and night, year in and year out. The officers 
were in three watches, the men in two, guarding themselves against night at- 
tacks by torpedo-boats or assault by the Confederate gunboats, and seeing that 
no vessel came out and that none went in. All this had to be endured, or 
the bay captured and held by the fleet. This was finally determined on by 
Farragut, and he only awaited the arrival of ironclads to make sure his end. 
Finding this plan determined on, the Confederates bestirred themselves. At 
the hamlet of Selma, on the river above, they built one ironclad, on the 
plan of the " Merrimac," their resources being exhausted to do even this. 
Slowly the wooden structure approached completion, then more slowly was 
it ironed all over above the water-line, then towed down to Mobile, where it 
was equipped with eight-inch rifle-guns. 

Then, when officers and men, provisions and water had been taken on 
board, all ready for action, she started down the bay, nearly thirty miles, 
to go outside in rough water and attack the enemy's wooden fleet before the 
ironclads arrived ; when, on arriving at the bar of sand caused by Dog Run 
emptying into the bay, it was found that the bar had shoaled to such an' 
extent that the ironclad, now christened the " Tennessee," drew three feet 
more water than there was under her. The only expedient 
How the "Tennes- that ff ere d itself, which was safe and speedy, was to build 

see" was Drawn . . 

Over the Bar. °* huge square timbers two enormous air- tight tanks, each 

as high as a two-story house. These were to be towed 

alongside of the ram and sunk to-the water's edge by opening the valves, 

then all lashed .together securely, making one vessel, as it were, of them ; 

the water was pumped out of these tanks, and the air entering, they, by 

their buoyancy, lifted the huge ship clear of the bottom, then steam tugs 

towed her over the bar. This was done in May, 1864 ; it should have been 

so many months before, for these so-called " camels " were finished in March. 

But on their arrival off Mobile they were burned by Federal emissaries, who 

were paid well for their daring deed. 

Right here we may interrupt our story to say that the secret service fund 

was well spent by Admiral Farragut, for we were delayed several months in 

building two more " camels," and by that time his ironclads were finished 

and on their way to him. I must mention the desertion of five men the day 

after the destruction of the camels ; they had been working on our ironclad, 

and furnished him with all details of her construction, all her weak points, 

of the character of her engines, the calibre of her armament, of all of which 

information he availed himself when the eventful day of action came. In 

addition to this, they were to be received into the Federal service if they 



WITH BUCHANAN ON THE "TENNESSEE." 



405 



destroyed these camels. These large bribes were offered for the reason that 
the fleet lying outside of Fort Morgan were solely wooden ships, and could 
not cope with nor resist the attack of our ironclad, and the Federal ironclads 
had not yet arrived. Finally, one June day we were towed over the bar down 
the bay ; then, casting loose, we steamed out to attack the Federal fleet. 
Reaching the passage between the two forts, we encountered rough water 
and found that, owing to want of buoyancy, we were 
in great danger of being water-logged and sunk by the The Wcak Points of 

1 • /-rv-i 1 -i • Confederate 

amount of water that swept inboard. The ram lay deep m Ram 
the water, solid and motionless as a cast-iron platform or 
raft, and every sea tumbling over her came inboard in such masses that the 
fires in the engine room were nearly put out and the empty vessel itself filled 
with salt water. So, discomfited, we put back under the fort, in smooth 
water, and all thought of attacking the fleet outside was dismissed. Then 
the defects, which this short cruise of ten hours had developed, were looked 
into. Our engines had been taken from an old river boat ; they were weak 
and old, and could only force us through the water about two miles an hour. 
They could not be strengthened by any method. The rudder-chains, by 
which the ship was steered, were found to be exposed to the enemy's shot, 
being in their whole length outside the iron deck but were covered over 
by a slight coating of iron rail. The capacity of the ram inboard to accommo- 
date her crew was fearfully deficient ; all officers and men, when the weather 
admitted, slept outside on top of the iron shield and decks, but in rainy 
times it was awful to endure such close quarters at night ; but we bore it 
June and July, under the sloping sides of the shield, in shape like the roof of a 
square house, about twelve feet in height and forty-eight in length. On July 
26, Admiral Buchanan and staff came aboard ; from his information, a 
fierce fight was imminent, when, on the first of August, 1864, we saw a 
decided increase in the Federal fleet, which was then listlessly at anchor 
outside of Fort Morgan, in the Gulf of Mexico. 

This reinforcement consisted of ten wooden frigates, all stripped to a 
" girt line " and clean for action, their topmasts sent down on deck and 
devoid of everything that seemed like extra rigging ; they appeared like 
prize-fighters ready for the " ring." Then we knew that trouble was ahead, 
and wondered to ourselves why they did not enter the bay. On the third of 
August we noticed another addition to the already formidable fleet — four 
strange-looking, long, black monsters, the new monitors ; and they were 
what the Federals had been so anxiously waiting for. At the distance of 
four miles their lengthy, dark lines could only be distinguished from the sea, 
on which they sat motionless, by the continuous volume of thick smoke 



4o6 WITH BUCHANAN ON THE " TENNESSEE." 



issuing from their low smoke-stacks, which appeared to come out of the 
ocean itself. These curious-looking craft made their advent on the evening 
of the fourth of August, and then we knew that the " gage of battle " was 
offered. 

We had been very uncomfortable for many weeks in our berths on board 
the " Tennessee," in consequence of the prevailing heavy rains wetting the 
decks and the terrihly moist, hot atmosphere, which was 

111 th thc°Ram ,e ^ °PP ress ^ veness which precedes a tornado. It was, 

therefore, impossible to sleep inside ; besides, from the 
want of properly cooked food and the continuous wetting of the decks at 
night, the officers and men were rendered desperate. We knew that the 
impending action would soon be determined one way or the other, and 
everyone looked forward to it with a positive feeling of relief. 

I had been sleeping on the deck of the admiral's cabin for two or three 
nights, when at daybreak on the fifth of August the old quartermaster came 
down the ladder, rousing us up with his gruff voice, saying : " Admiral, the 
officer of the deck bids me report that the enemy's fleet is under way! " 
Jumping up, still half asleep, we came on deck, and sure enough, there was 
the enemy heading for the " passage " past the fort. The grand old admiral 
of sixty years, with his countenance rigid and stern, showing a determina- 
tion for battle in every line, then gave his only order: "Get under way, 
Captain Johnson ; head for the leading vessel of the enemy, and fight each 
one as they pass! " 

The fort and fleet by this time had opened fire, and the " Tennessee " 
replied, standing close in and meeting each foremost vessel as it came up. 
We could see two long lines of men-of-war ; the innermost was composed of 
the four monitors, and the outer of the ten wooden frigates, all engaging 
the fort and fleet. Just at the moment we expected the monitors to open 
fire upon us, there was a halt in the progress of the enemy's 

Sinking fl eet< ^ e k serye d that one of the monitors was appar- 

of the Monitor . - ' . , t 

«« Tecumseh." ently at a stand-still; "laid to" for a moment, seemed to 
reel, then slowly disappeared in the gulf. Immediately 
immense bubbles of steam, as large as cauldrons, rose to the surface of the 
water, and only eight human beings could be seen in the turmoil. Boats 
were sent to their rescue, both from the fort and fleet, and they were saved. 
Thus the monitor " Tecumseh," at the commencement of the fight, struck 
by a torpedo, went to her fate at the bottom of the gulf, where she still lies. 
Sunk with her was her chivalric commander, T. A. M. Craven. The pilot, 
an engineer and two seamen were the only survivors picked up by the 
Federal boats, and they were on duty in the turret. The pilot, with whom 



WITH BUCHANAN OF THE " TENNESSEE." 



407 



I some time afterwards conversed at Pensacola on the subject, told me that 

when the vessel careened so that water began to run into the mouth of the 

turret, he and Captain Craven were on the ladder together, 

the captain on the top step, with the way open for his ^ ^ "to'outy * 

easy and honorable escape. The pilot said: "Go ahead, 

captain !" " No, sir!" replied Captain Craven. " After you, pilot; I leave 

my ship last !" Upon this the pilot sprang up, and the gallant Craven went 

down, sucked under in the vortex, thus sacrificing himself through a chiv- 

alric sense of duty. 

There was dead silence on board the " Tennessee ;" the men peered 
through the port-holes at the awful catastrophe and spoke to each other only 
in whispers, for they all knew that the same fate was probably awaiting us, 
for we were then directly over the " torpedo bed," and shut up tightly as we 
were in our " iron capsule ; " in another moment it might prove our coffin. 

At this juncture the enemy's leading vessel " backed water " and steered 
to one side, which arrested the progress of the whole squadron. But at this 
supreme moment the second vessel, Admiral Farragut's flagship, the " Hart> 
ford," forged ahead, and Farragut, showing the nerve and determination of 

the officer and the man, gave the order : u the torpedoes ! Go ahead !" 

and away he went, crashing through their bed to victory and renown. Some 
of the officers told me afterwards that they could hear the torpedoes snap- 
ping under the bottoms of their ships, and that they expected every moment 
to be blown into high air. 

The slightest delay at that time on the part of Farragut, subjected as he 
was to the terrible fire of the fort and fleet, would have been disaster, defeat, 
and the probable loss of his entire squadron, but he proved to be the man 
for the emergency. 

We in the " Tennessee," advancing very slowly, at the rate of about 
two miles an hour, met the leading vessels of the enemy as they passed and 
fought them face to face, but their fire was so destructive, continuous and 
severe that after we emerged from it, there was nothing left standing as 
large as your little finger. Everything had been shot away — smoke-stacks, 
boats, davits, staunchions, and, in fact, " fore and aft," our deck had been 
swept absolutely clean. A few of our men were slightly wounded, and 
when the last vessel had passed us and been fought in turn, we had been in 
action more than an hour and a half ; and then the enemy's fleet, somewhat 
disabled, of course, kept on up the bay and anchored about four miles away. 
So ended the first part of the fight. Farragut had already won half the 
battle ; he had passed the fort and fleet and had ten wooden vessels and 
three monitors left in good fighting trim. 



4o8 WITH BUCHANAN ON THE ' ' TENNESSEE. ■ ' 



Neither the officers nor men of either fleet had as yet been to breakfast, 
and the order was given : " Go to breakfast !" An order identical with that 
given by Admiral Dewey at Manila, May i, 1898, and 

Stopping the Fight un( j er a i mos t identical circumstances. For us on the 
For Breakfast. 

" Tennessee " to eat below was simply impossible, on 
account of the heat and humidity. The heat was not only terrific but 
intense thirst universally prevailed. The men rushed to the " scuttle butts " 
or water tanks, and drank greedily. Soon u hard-tack " and coffee were 
furnished, the men all eating standing, creeping out of the ports of the 
shield to get a little fresh air, the officers going to the upper deck. Admiral 
Buchanan, grim, silent, and rigid with prospective fighting, was " stumping " 
up and down the deck, lame from a wound received in his first engagement 
on the " Merrimac," and in about fifteen minutes we observed that, instead 
of heading for the safe " lee " of the fort, our iron prow was pointed for the 
enemy's fleet. Suppressed exclamations were beginning to be heard from 
the officers and crew. " The old admiral has not had his fight out yet ; he 
is heading for that big fleet ; he will get his ( fill ' of it up there." 

Slowly and gradually this fact became apparent to us, and I being on 
his staff and in close association with him, ventured to ask him : "Are you 
going into that fleet, admiral ?" " I am, sir !" was his reply. Without 
intending to be heard by him, I said to an officer standing near me : " Well, 
we'll never come out of there whole !" But Buchanan had heard my 
remark, and, turning round, said sharply : u That's my lookout, sir!" And 
now began the second part of the fight. 

I may as well explain here why he did this much-criticised and desperate 
deed of daring. He told me his reasons long afterward, as follows : He 
had only six hours coal on board, and he intended to 

BU toa n Dadn r ° Cd ex P end that in % htin ^ He did not mean to be trapped 
Expedient. a rat ^ n a no ^ e and ma de surrender without a struggle. 

Then he meant to go to the " lee " of the fort and assist 
General Page in the defence of the place. This calculation was unluckily 
prevented by the shooting away of the rudder chains of the " Tennessee " 
in this second engagement. 

As we approached the enemy's fleet, one after another of Farragut's ten 
wooden frigates swept out in a wide circle, and by the time we reached the 
point where the monitors were, a huge leading frigate was coming at us at 
the rate of ten miles an hour. A column of white foam, formed of the 
" dead water," piled in front of its bows many feet high. Heavy cannonad- 
ing from the monitors was going on at this time, when this leading wooden 
vessel came rapidly bearing down on us, bent on the destruction of the 



WITH BUCHANAN ON THE " TENNESSEE." 



formidable ram, which we on board the " Tennessee" fully realized as the 
supreme moment of the test of our strength. We had escaped from the 
" torpedo bed" safe and " on top," and were now to take our chances of 
being "run under' ' by the heavy wooden frigates that were fast nearing us. 
Each vessel had her own bows heavily ironed for the purpose of cutting 
down and sinking the "Tennessee," as such were the orders of Admiral 
Farragut. 

Captain Johnson, in the pilot-house, now gave the word to officers and 
men : " Steady yourselves when she strikes ; stand by and be ready ! " Not 
a word was heard on the deck under its shelving roof, where the officers and 
men, standing by their guns, appeared, silent and rigid, awaiting their fate. 
Captain Johnson shouted out : "We are all right; they can never run us 
under now ! " As he spoke, the leading vessel had struck against our " over- 
hang " with tremendous impact ; had shivered its iron prow in the clash, but 
only succeeded in whirling the " Tennessee " around as if she were swung on 
a pivot. 

I was sitting on the " combing of the hatch," having nothing to do as 
yet, a close observer as each vessel in turn struck us. At the moment of 
impact they slid alongside of us, and our " black wales " 
came in contact. At a distance of ten feet they poured Thc ^' Tenn cssee'» 
their broadside of twenty n-inch guns into us. This wooden Frigates, 
continued for more than an hour, and as each vessel 
"rammed" the " Tennessee " and slid alongside they followed, discharging 
their broadsides fast and furious, so that the noise was one continuous, 
deafening roar. You could only hear voices when close to the speaker, and 
the reverberation was so great that bleeding at the nose was not infrequent. 

Soon the wounded began to pour down to me. Stripped to their waist, 
the white shins of the men exhibited curious dark blue elevations and hard 
spots. Cutting down to these, I found that unburnt cubes of cannon powder 
that had poured into the port had perforated the flesh and made these great 
blue ridges under the skin. Their sufferings were very severe, for it was as 
if they had been shot with red-hot bullets, but no serious effects followed. 

Now all the wooden vessels, disabled and their prows broken off, anchored 
in succession over a mile away. Then Admiral Farragut signaled to the 
monitors : " Destroy the ram ! " Soon these three grim monsters, at thirty 
yards distance, took their position on each quarter of the " Tennessee " as 
she lay nearly motionless, her rudder having been shot away with grape in 
the fight. We knew that we were hopelessly disabled and that victory was 
impossible, as all we could do was to move around very slowly in a circle, 
and the only chance left to us was to crawl under the shelter of Fort Morgan, 



WITH BUCHANAN ON THE "TENNESSEE." 



For an hour and a half the monitors pounded us with solid shot fired 

with a charge of sixty pounds of powder from their u-inch guns, determined 

to crush in the "shield" of the "Tennessee," as thirty pounds of powder 

was the "regulation amount." In the midst of this continuous pounding 

the port-shutter of one of our guns was jammed by a shot, so that it would 

neither open nor shut, making it impossible to work the piece. The admiral 

then sent for some of the firemen from below to drive the 
The Deck Strewed b lt t p our men came and t f th holding 
With Bloody 1 , . . V , \ 

Fragments. "ie volt back, the others struck it with sledge-hammers. 

While they were thus working, suddenly there was a dull 
sounding impact, and at the same instant the men whose backs were against 
the shield were riven into pieces. I saw their limbs and chests, severed and 
mangled, scattered about the deck, their hearts lying near their bodies. All 
of the gun's crew and the admiral were covered from head to foot with blood, 
flesh and viscera. I thought at first the admiral was mortally wounded. 
The fragments and members of the dead men were shoveled up, put in 
buckets and hammocks, and stuck below. 

Engineer J. C. O'Connell, one of the wounded, had a pistol ball through 
his shoulder. " How in the world did you manage to get this ? " I asked 
him. He replied : " Why, I was off watch and had nothing to do, so while 
the 1 Hartford 1 was lying alongside of us a Yankee cursed me through the 
port-hole and I jabbed him with my bayonet in the body, and his comrade 
shot me with his revolver." Cutting the ball out I proposed to give him 
morphine, as he was suffering terribly, but he said : " None of that for me, 
doctor ; when we go down I want to be up and take my chances of getting 
out of some port-hole." Another man was wounded in the 
Fighting With ear w ] len fighting- in the same manner as the engineer, but 
Bayonets Through , 7 , , , , r , r - 

Port-holes. " e always declared he got even by the use of his bayonet. 

I merely mention these facts to show how close the fighting 
was, when men could kill or wound each other through the port-holes of each 
vessel. 

While attending the engineer, aide Carter came down the ladder in 
great haste and said : " Doctor, the admiral is wounded." " Well, bring him 
below," I replied. " I can't do it," he answered ; " haven't time. I'm carry- 
ing orders for Captain Johnson." So I went up, asked some officer whom I 
saw : " Where is the admiral ? " " Don't know," he replied. " We are all at 
work loading and firing ; got too much to do to think of anything else ! " 
Then I looked for the gallant commander myself, and discovered the old 
white-haired man lying curled up under the sharp angle of the roof. He was 
grim, silent and betrayed no evidence of his great pain. I went up to him 



WITH BUCHANAN ON THK " TENNESSEE." 



and asked: "Admiral, are you badly hurt?" " Don't know," he replied, 
but I saw one of his legs crushed up under his body, and, as I could get no 
help, raised him up with great caution, and clasping his arms around my 
neck carried him on my back down the ladder to the " cockpit," his broken 
leg slapping against me as we moved slowly along. After applying a 
temporary bandage he sat up on the deck and received reports from Captain 
Johnson regarding the progress of the fight. Captain Johnson soon came 
down in person, and the admiral greeted him with : " Well, Johnson, they 
have got me again. You'll have to look out for her now ; it is your fight." 
" All right," answered the captain, " I'll do the best I know how." 

In the course of half an hour Captain Johnson again made his appear- 
ance below and reported to the admiral that all the frigates had " hauled off," 
but that three monitors had taken position on our quarters. 
He added that we could not bring a gun to bear and that T oura e e a is 

& 55 Truly American. 

the enemy's solid shot were gradually smashing in the 
I shield," and not having been able to fire for thirty minutes the men were 
fast becoming demoralized from sheer inactivity, and that from the crushing 
of the " shield " they were seeking shelter, which showed their condition 
mentally. 4 'Well, Johnson," said the admiral, at this precarious juncture, 
" fight to the last ; then, to save these brave men, when there is no longer 
hope, surrender." 

In twenty minutes more the firing ceased, Captain Johnson having 
bravely gone up alone on the exposed roof with a handkerchief on a 
" boarding-pike," and the surrender was effected. Then we immediately 
carried all our wounded up on the roof into the fresh air, which they so 
much needed. 

From that elevated place, I witnessed the rush of the petty officers and 
men of the monitors which were nearest to us, to board the captured ship, to 
procure relics and newspaper renown. Two creatures dressed in blue shirts, , 
begrimed and black with, powder, rushed up to the wounded admiral and 
demanded his sword. His aide refused peremptorily, whereupon one of 
them stooped as if to take it, upon which aide Forrest warned him not to 
touch it, as it would only be given to Admiral Farragut or his authorized 
representatives. Still the man attempted to seize it, whereupon Forrest 
knocked him off the " shield " to the deck below. At this critical moment, 
when a fight was imminent, I saw a boat nearing, flying a captain's pennant, 
and running down as it came alongside I recognized an old shipmate, 
Captain Le Roy. Hurriedly explaining to him our position, he mounted the 
I shield," and assuming command, he arrested the obnoxious man and sent 
him under guard to his boat. The sword was then given to Captain Giraud 



4 i2 WITH BUCHANAN ON THE " TENNESSEE." 

by Admiral Buchanan, to be carried to Admiral Farragut. Our flag, smoke- 
stained and torn, had been seized by the other man and hastily concealed in 
his shirt bosom. He was brought before Captain Le Roy, and amidst the 
laughter and jeers of his companions, was compelled to draw it forth from 
its hiding-place, and it was sent on board the flagship. 

Captain L,e Roy, who was an old friend of us both, immediately had 
private supplies brought and did everything in his power to aid his former 
shipmate, the wounded admiral. He brought a kind mes- 

Chivairous Acts ga e f rom Admiral Farragut, in which the latter expressed 
in the Moment . 2 

of Victory. regret to hear of Admiral Buchanan's wound, and offered 
to do anything in his power, wishing to know what he 
desired. This was accepted by Admiral Buchanan in the same kind spirit 
in which it was given, and as one of his staff-officers, I was sent on board the 
" Hartford " with the reply that, appreciating the kind message, he had only 
to ask that his fleet-surgeon and his aides might be allowed to accompany 
him wherever he might be sent, until his recovery from his wound. Board- 
ing the "Hartford" by Captain Le Roy's steam launch, and ascending by 
the " man-rope," I mounted the hammock netting, as the whole starboard 
side, amidship, and the gangway had been carried away, 
Terrible Destruc- as j was a f terwar d s told, by one of their own frigates 
tion Caused by ... • 

Wood Splinters, having collided with the "Hartford," after "ramming" 
the " Tennessee." From the hammock netting the scene 
was one of carnage and devastation. The spar-deck was covered and littered 
with broken gun-carriages, shattered boats, disabled guns, and a long line of 
grim corpses, dressed in blue, lying side by side. The officer accompanying 
me told me that those men, two whole gun's crews, were all killed by 
splinters, and pointing with his hand to a piece of " weather-boarding," ten 
feet long and four inches wide, I received my first vivid idea of what a 
splinter was, or what was meant by a splinter. 

Descending, we threaded our way, and ascending the poop where all 
the officers were standing, I was taken up and introduced to Admiral Farra- 
gut, whom I found a very quiet, unassuming man, and not in the least 
flurried by his great victory. In the kindest manner, he inquired regarding 
the severity of the admiral's wound, and then gave the necessary orders to 
carry out Admiral Buchanan's request. 

We then thought that the admiral's leg would have to be amputated 
that evening or the next morning. In speaking to the admiral about his 
chances of recovery and the proposed amputation, he replied: "I have 
nothing to do with it. It is your leg now. Do your best." It was this 
spirit of firmness and equanimity which not only saved Admiral Buchanan's 



WITH BUCHANAN ON THE " TENNESSEE." 413 

life but ultimately saved his leg also. He was carried on board of Captain 
James Jouett's ship, the " Metacomet," which was temporarily converted 
into a hospital. We remained on board that night and were cared for in a 
very kind way by Captain Jouett, to whom Admiral Buchanan always 
expressed himself as deeply indebted. 

The next morning, at my suggestion, a flag of truce was sent to General 
Page, commanding Fort Morgan, representing our condition, sending the 
names of our dead, wounded, and the great number* of Federal dead and 
wounded on board, and asking, in the name of humanity, to be allowed to 
pass the fort and convey them to the large naval hospital at Pensacola, where 
they all could receive the same treatment. To this request General Page 
promptly responded, and we passed out, and in eight hours were all safely 
housed in the ample hospital, where we were treated by old naval friends in 
the warmest and kindest manner. Medical Director Turner was in charge, 
and we remained there until December, when Admiral Buchanan, being 
able to hobble around on crutches, was conveyed to Fort Warren, with his 
aides, and I was sent back to Mobile in Captain Jouett's ship, under flag of 
truce. 

Daily with the admiral in the hospital at Pensacola for four months, he 
explained his whole plan of action to me of that second fight in Mobile 
Bay, as follows : " I did not expect to inflict serious injury upon passing 
vessels ; the guns of Fort Morgan were thought capable of doing that. I 
expected that the monitors would then and there surround me and pound 
the shield in, but when all the Federal vessels had passed up and anchored 
four miles away, then I saw that a long siege was intended by the army and 
navy, which, with its numerous transports at anchor under Pelican Island, 
were debarking nearly ten thousand infantry. Having the 
example before me of the blowing up of the « Merrimac " naSon'of"^^^©*! 
in the James River by our own officers, without a fight, and 
their being caught in such a trap, I determined by an unexpected dash into 
the fleet, to attack and do it all the damage in my power ; to expend all my 
ammunition and what little coal I had on board (only six hours' steaming), 
and then, having done all I could with what resources I had, to retire under 
the guns of the fort, and being without motive power, there to lie and assist 
in repulsing the attacks and assaults on the fort." 

The unexpectedness of the second attack is well illustrated by Admiral 
Farragut's remark at the time. After having anchored, all hands were 
piped to breakfast, when the officer on duty on the deck of the " Hartford," 
seeing the ram slowly heading up the bay for the Federal fleet, reported the 
fact to Admiral Farragut while he was taking breakfast. " What ! is that 



4H WITH BUCHANAN ON THE " TENNESSEE." 



so?" he inquired. "-Just like Buchanan's audacity! Signal to all frigates 
to immediately get under way and run the ram under, and to the monitors 
to attack at once." 

The greatest injury done to the " Tennessee " was by the " Chickasaw," 
commanded by Captain G. H. Perkins. Our pilot, in pointing it out to 

Captain Johnson, said : " That ironclad is hanging to us like a dog, 

and has smashed our shield already. Fight him ! Sink him, if you can! " 
The " Chickasaw " really captured the " Tennessee." 

Admiral Buchanan was in form and physique one in a thousand. Up- 
right in his carriage, he walked like a game-cock, though halting in his gait 
in later years, in consequence of having received a minie ball in his 
right thigh, while commanding the " Merrimac " in the first ironclad fight 
in the world. It was while he stood on the deck after sinking the " Con- 
gress," that he was shot by some Federal infantry on the shore, and from 
1864 to his death, in 187 1, he was very lame in both legs, the left particu- 
larly, which was terribly shattered in the fight when on the " Tennessee." 
He always complained of his "bad luck" in his two great actions ; in the 
first he was struck down at the moment of victory, and in the last at the 
moment of defeat. At sixty-two years, he was a strikingly handsome old 
man ; clean shaven and ruddy of complexion, with a very healthy hue, for 
he was always remarkably temperate in all his habits. He had a high fore- 
head, fringed with snow-white hair ; thin, close lips ; steel blue eyes ; and 
projecting conspicuously was that remarkable feature which impressed 
everyone — his strongly-marked aquiline nose, high, thin and perfect in out- 
line. When full of fight, he had a peculiar way of drawing down the 
corners of his mouth until the thin line between his lips formed a perfect 
arch around his chin. 

The Confederate torpedoes, planted at the entrance to Mobile Bay, were 
the first, and were very primitive in their construction — merely a large beer 
keg, filled with powder and anchored by chains to a big, 
How theConfederates flat . Q q{ { caUed & f< musllroom> » Projecting from 
Made Torpedoes. r , ' J & 

the swinging top, some four feet under water, were tubes 

of glass, filled with sulphuric acid, which, being broken, fell into sugar or 
starch, causing rapid chemical combustion, and finally a mass of fire, thus 
exploding the powder. They had been planted so long that many leaked, 
only one out of ten remaining intact, and this fact explains why so many 
were run over by the Federal fleet without exploding. 

During the four months that we were guarding the entrance to Mobile 
Bay, we were not by any means safe from the danger of our own contriv- 
ances. One hot July morning, we officers were up on the flat deck of the 



WITH BUCHANAN ON- THE " TENNESSEE." 



4i5 



ram, enjoying the sea breeze, when a floating black object was observed, 
bobbing tip and down. We supposed at first that it was a sort of devil-fish, 
with its young, as we had killed one with its "calf," only a few weeks pre- 
viously ; but the motion was too slow, evidently. A telescope soon revealed 
the fact that it was a torpedo drifting in with the flood tide. Here was 
literally the "devil to pay." We could not send a boat-crew after it to tow 
it out of the way. We could not touch it ; we could not guide it. There 
were no means in our power to divert it from its course. Finally, at the 
suggestion of Captain David Rainy, of the marines, he brought up his whole 
guard, with loaded muskets, who at once began to shoot at the floating keg 
and sunk it, and not a moment too soon ; for it only disappeared under the 
water about twenty feet from the ram. 

■ As this sketch is confined exclusively to operations inside the " shield " 
of the ram " Tennessee," I have not thought it germane to detail anything 
in relation to the other three gunboats of the Confederate fleet, which, being 
wooden vessels, were sunk or captured early in the first action. 

It may be interesting to state the cause of the wound received by 
Admiral Buchanan. It was by a fragment of iron, either a piece of solid 
shot or a part of the plating of the ram, which fractured the large bone of 
the leg, comminuting it, and the splintered ends protruding through the 
muscles and skin. 

The admiral's aides were Lieutenants Carter and Forrest ; they tenderly 
nursed him during the entire four months of his confinement in the hospital 
at Pensacola, accompanied him to Fort Warren, cared for while him there, 
and brought him back to Richmond after his exchange. 



416 



HOW THE BATTLE FLAGS WERE FURLED. 



HOW THE BATTLE FLAGS WERE FURLED AT 
APPOMATTOX. 

By William H. Stewart. 

I BELONGED to Mahone's old brigade of the Army of Northern Virginia. 
The last reveille moved our brigade from the line of battle, where the 
night of the eighth of April, 1865, was spent, after the hard march 
from Cumberland Church. After a march of a few miles, a halt was 
ordered on the now famous field of Appomattox, just as the sun was throwing 
his curtains of crimson and gold over the eastern sky and while the newly- 
born leaves were yet burdened with dew. 

The country is undulating, and an elevated position brings a large sec- 
tion within view. On the west, the Blue Ridge rose in its morning garb, and 
on the east a broad plateau of green, here and there broken by gradual 
elevations, appeared under the morning mists. 

The everlasting artillery was thundering in front. Gordon's shattered 
columns were struggling there, endeavoring- to re-open a path of retreat, now 
closed by the army of the James ; Pickett's magnificent division, which had 
made the hills of Gettysburg tremble beneath its terrible charge, and the 
world stand with bated breath at its sublime courage and matchless heroism, 
had been overwhelmed and torn asunder at Five Forks and Sailor's Creek, 
and only forty-seven men remained for duty. Field's and Mahone's divis- 
ions, " staunch in the midst of all disasters," were the only troops ready to 
be brought into action against the combined armies of the Potomac and 
James, numbering probably 140,000 men. 

The blue lines of the enemy, like a huge anaconda, were extending their 
coils to the right and left, but our troops were ignorant of how closely they 
were enfolded. General Gordon, in reply to a message, said : " Tell General 
Lee I have fought my corps to a frazzel, and can do nothing unless heavily 
supported by Longstreet's corps." On receiving this, the great captain 
exclaimed : " Then there is nothing left me but to go and see General 
Grant, and J had rather die a thousand deaths." He had only 7,892 infantry 
with arms upon the field. 

In this dire emergency, about sunrise, the commander-in-chief of the 
armies of the Confederate States summoned to him our division commander. 
General Mahone found him with the " Old War Horse," General James 



HOW THK BATTLE FLAGS WERE FURLED. 417 

Longstreet, at his .side. The staff were requested to retire, and the three 
held counsel together as to the situation. 

Surrender was inevitable, but General Lee had before determined that 
t^ie terms must be such as he felt were due to his army ; that the soldiers 
should not be sent to prison, but be paroled to return to their homes ; these 
must be the terms, or fight then and there to death. He was resolved to 
preserve, untarnished, the honor of the Army of Northern Virginia. 

When the last council-of-war was over, General Lee mounted " Trav- 
eler," his war horse, saying to General Longstreet, " You take care of the 
command," and rode off to see General Grant. 

General Longstreet sent General Mahone to take command of the rear 

left flank. Afterwards, General Lee was seen standing alone in the direction 

of Appomattox Court House, near the celebrated apple tree, with his 

staff near by, and a few soldiers in the vicinity grouped here and there. 

He was awaiting a messenger. Soon a Federal officer, with a courier, 

came galloping from the enemy's lines. The officer dismounted upon 

reaching within fifty yards of General Lee, then advanced 

on foot, and when within fifty feet, took off his hat and 

' 3 ' the Surrender. 

placed it under his arm. Colonel Walter H. Taylor, 
A. A. G., advanced and bore from him a note to General Lee. A message 
was returned, whereupon the officer replaced his hat upon his head, made 
for his horse, and rode off to his lines. 

Shortly after he returned, and in like manner approached General Lee 
and delivered to Colonel Taylor another note ; upon reading this, General 
Lee, with great deliberation, tore it into many pieces and threw it upon the 
ground, afterwards pressing the pieces into the earth with his foot; a mes- 
sage was delivered to the officer, who, in like manner as before, made his 
exit. Soon after General Lee mounted, and, with Colonel Marshall and a 
courier, rode off in the direction the officer had gone. 

It was then that the two opposing commanders first met, after which 
they retired to the McLean House, where the terms of capitulation were 
committed to writing. The reverence displayed by the Federal officer who 
bore the messages to General Lee, impressed all with the high sense of the 
true manly propriety of that officer. I have been informed that General 
Babcock was the officer who was so courteous to our commander. 

When General Mahone returned from the conference the command was 
ordered in line of battle ; the men took their position with cheerfulness, and 
words ran along the line, " Well, we will get a chance at Sheridan now, and 
supply Mahone's foot cavalry with horses." Mahone's men cherished an 
earnest desire to get hold of " little Phil ;" they had driven his troopers 
27 



4i8, HOW THE BATTLE FLAGS WERE FURLED. 

• 

handsomely at Amelia Court House, and felt that they could now finally 
wind up the fierce career of his soldiers. But it was not long before the 
spirit which had never, not even yet, failed this noble corps, was suddenly 
seized with suspicions of surrender. A cavalryman had galloped across the 
open field from the right and disclosed the startling news, but they had little 
faith in his tale. They were actively engaged in building breastworks, when 
the order was passed to stop. This was singularly contrary to the precau- 
tion which had always governed. The cavalryman's story was true, the 
men's hearts sank with grief, and they wept like children over a mother's 
grave. They knew all was over, and these manifestations of sorrow and dis- 
tress sublimely attested their fidelity to the Southern cause. There was not 
a man in the command who did not prefer fighting to surrender. Like the 
inhabitants of renowned Carthage, many of them would have preferred death 
rather than survive. 

On that last march, they hoped to join their fortunes with General Joe 
Johnston's army and throw all in the scale of one grand trial at arms with 
the armies of Grant and Sherman, thinking by generous 
The Last Courage- eirm i a tion and rivalry, and one determined effort, with Lee 

ous Hopes of the . . 

Confederates. an( ^ Johnston clasping hands, they might crush the 

unwieldy column of the enemy; but Providence ordained 

that the army of Northern Virginia should fall by the way-side, gradually 

worn out by attrition — and thus the last hope of the Southern soldier fled 

forever. 

The tenth of April was spent by the soldiers in discussing their gloomy 
prospects around the camp fires ; a chilly drizzling rain was falling, 
but foraging the immediate surroundings for scant food continued, as their 
commissariat had been long exhausted, and the Federals were unable to 
supply them. Hunger was gnawing sharply in their breasts, and fortunate 
indeed was the owner of a few grains of corn or a small piece of stale bread. 
After all the preliminaries were arranged, and General Lee had issued his 
farewell order, the formal surrender was made. I have often seen pictures, 
in school books, of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis, at Yorktown, but 
never dreamed* that I should realize a like scene. 

Crawford's division was drawn up on a hill just in front of Appomattox 
Court House, Mahone's division marched up within a few feet, halted, faced 
it and stacked arms, furling the proud old bullet-torn, battle-smoked flags 
across the stacks. It was truly a sad mission, as plainly depicted on every 
countenance in our ranks, but General Grant's chivalrous terms were 
awarded the highest praise from all the captured. 

When General Lee took his departure the soldiers gathered about the 



THE OLD GRAY COAT. 419 

roadside, and as he passed through the broken and unarmed ranks every 
head was uncovered and each man was bidding a silent adieu with bursting 
heart and overflowing eyes. Even in disaster and defeat, all his manly 
characteristics stood out in his very appearance, and he seemed created to 
inspire love, respect and enthusiasm. His soldiers loved him with a deep 
and sacred affection no disaster could dampen or defeat destroy. After 
receiving their paroles the soldiers formed in groups and marched in the 
direction of their homes, relying upon kind-hearted citizens to supply them 
with rations on their desolate journey — a journey as dreary as a fugitive's 
through dismal avenues shrouded in the blackness of midnight and cur- 
tained on either side with the sombre forms of full foliaged shrubs and 
trees — all surroundings as black as death, terrible as a tornado, and almost 
as awful as the night of crucifixion. 



THE OLD GRAY COAT. 

By Wiluam Harper Bennett. 

THREE days before, the creaky old gates of the college had swung 
open, the file after file of dusty, blue-coated soldiery had tramped 
between the twin lodges that flanked the entrance. Then came 
the quartermaster's lumbering vehicles, and that night a white- 
walled village had arisen on the campus, lighted by a hundred camp-fires. 

The old bell high up in the college belfry, that had summoned the 
students to their daily labors and had tolled out the Angelus morning, noon 
and night, for nigh a hundred years, was silent now, and in its place the 
brazen notes of the bugle voiced the call to duty. Outside was all the 
bustle and noise of the camp, within the buildings the quiet and hush of 
the house of death. 

Some days previous hurried word had come from the War Department 
that the troops would occupy the college grounds, and after a dozen plots to 
repel the " invaders " had been discussed and cast aside as impracticable, by 
the excited and angry students from the South, the break-up had come, 
until now there remained less than a dozen collegians awaiting remittances 
from home to enable them to depart. 

A tall, slight student, with long, dark hair, oval face, beardless, save 
for the down on his lip, stood by an open window of the study hall, gazing 
across the broad Potomac at the Virginia hills, bright with spring sunshine. 



d20 



THE OLD GRAY COAT. 



At the sound of a bugle-call from the direction of the camp the hot blood 
dyed his olive complexion and tears of anger dimmed his large dark eyes. 
" Vandals!" he muttered. 

" Self-communing, Al ?" inquired a fellow-student, who had approached 
unperceived. 

" Yes, self-communing," replied the Southerner, u bUt I wish that I had 
the whole world for an audience. I'm cursing these invaders. What right 
have they ?" 

" The right of , but, no ! You, my dearest friend, are unkind to 

me. These 'invaders,' as you call them, are the soldiers of my dear State, 
New York, and I love it as dearly as you love Louisiana, 

A Question That ^ ^ ear friend," . and the Northerner grasped his com- 
Divided Friends. . • 

panion's hand. " Pray, don't forget our truce. Don't 
forget our old agreement not to discuss our country's sectional troubles. 
We can never, never agree on that subject, Al. For three years the coming 
storm has been gathering around us, but our truce has been respected until 
our little brush just now." 

" Forgive me, Jim," pleaded Albert Lapointe, " but it's so hard to see 
these strangers at our very gates and to be oppressed with the thought of what 
their coming means. In a few days, perhaps, their progress southward may 
be marked by blazing homes and a desolate country. Ah ! you cold North- 
erners love your section, but not with the burning devotion of our warm 
Southern natures. The thought of the fate that may be in store for every- 
thing that I love, drives me frantic," and the youth's lips quivered and his 
eyes were suffused with tears. 

" Don't let us discuss the question at all, Al, that's the only way to avoid 
a rupture between us," replied James Rogers. " Have you heard from home 
yet?" 

" I have, and I leave for the South to-night. I'm going to let you into 
a profound secret. I feel guilty, Jim, old friend. I've had a secret, the first 
one I've ever had that you did not share, but, you know, I must regard you who 
was my friend an enemy now. I'll tell you all about it, because I know you 

love me too well to betray me to the canai the Yankee soldiers out 

there." 

"I think you may safely trust me," answered Rogers, gravely. 

" Then come with me," said Lapointe. The young men ascended to 
the deserted dormitory. When they reached Lapointe's bed he pulled a 
package from beneath the mattress, and removing the covering, disclosed a 
new gray military coat, with shining brass buttons bearing the design of the 
pelican and her brood. 



THE OLD GRAY COAT. 



421 



" My uniform, Jim," said Al, proudly, holding it up for his friend's in- 
spection. " My father is lieutenant-colonel of the Thirtieth Louisiana 
Infantry, and he has obtained a lieutenant's commission for me. I had this 
uniform made on the quiet, in the city, and I was lucky enough to find our 
State button. Our regiment left New Orleans some days ago for the front, and 
I am to join at Richmond. When will you leave for home, Jim ? " 

" When the war is over, Al. I shall enlist in some New York regiment, 
maybe in the one out there on the campus. My parents will object, of course, 
but I know my duty to my country, and ." 

" The truce, Jim, don't forget the truce. May the good God grant that we 
shall never cross swords on the battlefield. It is hard, Jim, 
oh, so hard, that two of the staunchest, the most loving of 4 May G ° d I Judgc 

/ ' ' & tween Thee and Me. 

mends should be parted by that awful calamity, a civil 
war. I know you're too much of a Christian to laugh at me, Jim, but I'd 
like to go with you into the chapel on this last day we shall be together, that 
we may ask God to preserve us from meeting in deadly strife." 

Since sunrise the treble of the musketry and the bass of the artillery had 
united in the grand chorus of battle. At no place on the field had the 
struggle been more obstinate than in a patch of woodland on the right of 
the Confederate lines. 

The Union forces had wrested the position from their opponents, but 
had only held it a short time when the shot and shell from the Confederate 
batteries on the high ground beyond rendered the timber-land less tenable 
than the more open country. When the rattling fire of musketry gave way 
before the incessant pounding of the artillery, the long gray line swung 
down the slope, halting again and again to pour a volley in the direction of 
the foe. Into the shadow of the woodland, dim with powder smoke, plunged 
the men of the Thirtieth Louisiana. Hundreds were lying around, horribly 
mutilated by the shell and solid shot, and here and there lay a poor fellow 
howling with agony, pinned to the earth by the limb of a tree torn from its 
trunk by the projectiles. 
- " Halt !" 

Just a moment's breathing spell before facing the dangers in front, 
dangers revealed by the jets of flame that pierced the murkiness. 
Bing! 

A musket ball tore splinters from the trunk of a tree not six inches 
from the head of Lieutenant Albert Lapointe, who was leaning against it. 

" By Jove, Lieutenant ! That bullet came very near to making a hole 
in your head," laughed a merry young Louisianian. 



422 



THE OLD GRAY COAT. 



" Close shave, Theophile," assented the Lieutenant. Then there arose 
above roar of battle the nearby clicking of the musket hammers, followed 
by the crash of a volley, and the gray line moved forward cautiously through 
the blinding sulphurous smoke, stumbling over the fallen and the obstruc- 
tions that blocked the way. 

" Water ! O, for the love of God, a drop of water," groaned a young 
wounded Union officer, propped against a tree trunk, the blood trickling 
between the fingers of the hand he pressed to his side. 

WO Battle d Field hC ^"* s wea ^ v °i ce was unheard, and the gray line passed by 
him. 

" Albert ! Albert Lapointe !" gasped the wounded man, as the young 
officer hurried on. Lapointe heard the voice, and, turning, he bent and 
gazed at the quivering form. 

"Jim! Jim Rogers! O, my God, to find you in this plight," and 
quickly uncorking his canteen he held it to Rogers' lips. 

" My friend ! My brother ! What, what can I do to relieve you ?" he 
asked, helplessly. 

" Nothing, nothing, AL I'm about done for," moaned Rogers, " O, this 
pain, this agony !" 

Backward came the gray line in dogged retreat before the never-flagging 
blaze of flame in front. The two friends were left between the lines. 

" Go ! Leave me, Al. God bless and protect you, brother. This pain 
won't last much longer. I'm — I'm — dying. O, how cold I am." Lapointe 
arose, tore open his coat, pulled it off, and tucked it about his friend's body 
as carefully as would a loving mother around an infant. Bending, he kissed 
Rogers on the forehead. One last long look through tear-dimmed eyes, and 
then he crouched low and hurried in the direction of his regiment. 

When night had fallen, and only the moans of the wounded broke the 
stillness of the battlefield, a squad of Union soldiers entered the wood and 
examined the bodies of the dead and dying. 

"Quiet now, men," cautioned the commanding officer, "or you'll have 
that hellish battery on the hill yonder dropping shells on us." 

" It must 'a' been about here I saw the lieutenant tumble over, captain. 
I sot him up agin a tree, an' — here he is, jest as I left him. We're too late, 
I guess. Seems to me he's a goner." 

" Here, you men stand about me to shut off the glare, and I'll strike a 
match," said the captain. "Jove! It is poor Rogers. Poor boy! and a 
rebel's coat wrapped around him. Good! The heart beats yet. Lift him. 
Gently now ! Throw away that old gray coat." 



THE OLD GRAY COAT. 



423 



" Can't, captain ! He's got the clutch o' death on it." 

" Very well, let it be. Careful now, mind your footing, but make haste 
over there to the field hospital. We may be able to save him." 

* * * * * * 

"Another of the old boys in blue laid at rest to-day," sighed CoLonel 
Rogers, as he put down the evening paper and gazed around at the family 
group in the cosy sitting-room. " It is sad to realize that so many of the 
vigorous fellows with whom one touched shoulders thirty years ago have 
answered the last roll call, my children." 

"Whose death caused you the keenest sorrow, papa?" asked the 
colonel's eldest daughter. 

u Well, my girl, I was deeply grieved when dear old 1 Uncle Billy,' as 
we called General Sherman, died, but the keenest sorrow I felt was to hear 
that a boy in gray was no more. 

" Ah ! the death of my old college chum, Albert Lapointe, was a terrible 
blow. I have often told you about my meeting Iyapointe on the battlefield, 
where I was lying desperately wounded, and how he stripped the coat from 
his back for my comfort. I never heard anything about him again until 
Appomattox. Of course, like the rest of the Yankees, I was jubilant over 
the surrender, but let me tell you, boys and girls, I was full of sympathy for 
the brave soldiers of the South. There was mourning in many homes in the 
North, but down in the southland thousands had no homes in which to 
mourn their dead. Everything — relatives, friends, homes, possessions, pros- 
pects — all swept away. 

" After the preliminaries of the capitulation had been arranged, I hurried 
to that part of the Confederate camp where Lapointe's regiment was quar- 
tered. I found there only a handful of men. I asked an officer to tell me 
where I could find Lieutenant Iyapointe. 

" ' In the wilderness, sir,' he answered. ' Lieutenant 
Oh for the Touch L inte feU with his face to the foe< j wish to Qod sir 
of a Vanished Hand. r , 11 

that I was lying beside him this day.' 

" When I heard the fate of my friend, children, I grieved as if I had 
lost a beloved brother. 

" If John will bring down the cedar case from my wardrobe, I will show 
you a hallowed relic, my children." 

When John, the eldest son, had deposited the case upon the table, the 
veteran unlocked it, removed the protecting coverings, and took out a worn 
and weather-stained blue coat, with tarnished buttons. 

" This, my children, is the coat I donned in '61, when I enlisted. You'll 
value it when I'm gone. This,' ' he continued, reverently, lifting a shabby 



424 



THE DESERTER'S STORY. 



coat of gray, while tears glistened in his eyes, " this is the coat that my 
dear, dead friend, Albert Lapointe, exhibited so proudly to me in the college 
dormitory ; the coat that he stripped from his shoulders to protect me from 
the cold on the battlefield. 

"John, my son, it is my wish that you place it beneath my head when 
I join the bivov x of the dead." 



THE DESERTER'S STORY. 

By Letb Porter. 

IT is night, and a dying fire makes dimly visible the interior of a miser- 
able room. Its walls and floor are bare ; a bed drawn forward for 
warmth, a table at its foot, and a low splint-bottomed rocking-chair 
before the hearth complete its furniture. Outside, the snow is falling 
fast and the wind moans, while at intervals a dull roar, which shakes the 
hills with its hollow reverberation, proclaims that darkness has not entirely 
quieted the sounds of a battle which has been raging not many miles 
distant. 

A woman's figure moves upon the bed, restlessly but feebly ; she is white 
and wasted, as if with illness, and it is a task almost beyond her strength to 
lift and hush the wailing child lying by her side. Presently she rouses her- 
self with a painful effort and staggers to the chair, holding her baby to her 
breast. Its feeble cries are stilled and soothed by the slow motion of her 
rocking figure. She shivers as a sudden blast shakes the cabin, and putting 
forth all her strength, lifts a log of wood upon the fire. The effort seems 
to exhaust her, and she falls back white and gasping ; the infant slides down 
upon her knees, where it lies sleeping. Presently life seems to return to her 
a little, and bending forward with her clasped hands resting over the child, 
she watches the fire-light gleaming or her wedding ring, and words, low and 
tense, escape her white lips. 

" All day I have heard the guns ; the battle must be near. Oh, God ! if 
Jim is with them spare him to come to me ; let me see him once more before 
I die," and she raised her clasped hands imploringly. " Jim,. Jim, I have 
struggled against it for your sake — for the sake of your parting prayer 
to me. I have fought it off so long. I promised you not to give up, I 
promised to live for you, to pray for us both, to believe that God would pre- 
serve you to me, that he would let us meet again ; but I can struggle no 
longer ; my strength is gone ; the shadows are closing over me, and I'm too 



THE DESERTER'S STORV. 



42s 



weak — too weak to" her voice died away in an exhausted whisper. Then, 

as the child upon her knees stirred slightly, once again she roused herself. 
" Oh, bring him back to me ! let me see him only once again, — let me see 
him hold his child and kiss it, and then let me lay my head on his breast 
and die, for I cannot bear this torture any longer. It was all too hard, too 
hard ; I tried to be brave for your sake, Jim ; I knew it broke your heart to 
leave me, just one month married and yet to leave me all alone, — it broke 
your heart, my poor boy, and the thought of you and your last words held 
me up, they gave me all the strength I've had. I've fought against it for 
one long year — fought against it until now, and God has not yet brought 
you back ! Poor Jim, when you do come home I won't be here to meet 
you," and low, tearless sobs shook her frail body. 

There carne another sound beside the noise of the storm outside the 
cabin, a sound of footsteps, a hand upon the latch — the door was pushed 
heavily open, letting in a blinding rush of snow and icy air, and in the 
midst of it a man's figure muffled to the eyes in a cloak. He closed the 
door and dropped the heavy garment to the floor, then fell on his knees 
beside the motionless figure in the chair. 

She had sat as still as stone, with the look in her face of one who sees 
a spirit of the dead ; but at his touch, the blood leaped from her heart to 
her cheek, and, giving a cry of joy so sharp that it rang on the air like the 
keen accent of pain, she fell forward on his breast. For many minutes they 
remained without sound or motion, lost in the rapture of their reunion, and 
only the raging storm outside broke the deep, midnight stillness. 

At last he drew away from her and looked into her face, with eyes in 
which a great fear grew and deepened. Where were the fair and youthful 
features he had left behind him, — where the bloom and brightness? As he 
gazed he seemed to trace the cold and blighting finger of death in every 
line. She read the unspoken anguish in his eyes, and tenderly kissing him, 
said : 

" Dear Jim, I am very happy. God has been good ; he has heard my 
prayer, he has brought you back to me once more. See, dear, your baby; 
kiss her, Jim, she has been a comfort to me. I think she will be a pretty 
child." She broke off and sank back against the chair, exhausted by her 
effort to cheer him. 

He bent and kissed the child, then took it from her lap and laid it down. 
He had no thought beyond the woman ; his face was set and hard, his eyes 
dry and tearless. 

u Mary," he whispered, coming close to her, " you are ill and weak now, 
but I will nurse you ; health will come back again, you will soon get strong, 



426 



THE DESERTER'S STORY. 



for my sake, promise me," and he lifted her in his arms, a light burden that 
made him tremble, and placed her on the bed. She was too weak to speak, 
but a happy look was on her face and in the eyes turned toward his. He 
went on, in the wild hope of rousing her : 

" Shall I tell you how I come to be with you now, dearest? Will you 
be glad to hear how I have passed this cruel year away from you ? " He 
paused anxiously, and, encouraged by a faint smile from her, continued : " It 
is a long, long story of marches and encampments and battles, with some- 
times victory and sometimes defeat, with cold and hunger and fatigue and 
many hardships ; but we were soldiers, fighting for our country's good, and 
we did not complain. The hardest of all to bear was the absence from home 
and loved ones, without the power to send or get one word of news, and the 
longing for this almost broke my heart, but we were down within the enemy's 
lines, and no letter could pass for love or money. I was twice wounded, 
Mary, and in the hospital, — for two months the first time and still longer 
with the second wound, but God be thanked ! I came out as strong as ever." 

He watched her anxiously to see whether this mention of his pain and 
danger would rouse her to some show of grief, but though she heard him, 
the look of happiness on her face remained undisturbed. The past had no 
longer the power to torture her ; she was conscious only of her present joy, 
and of the close approach of a vast, peaceful future, which already seemed to 
overshadow her. He knew it was so — knew it though he crushed back the 
despair into his heart and went on desperately, with shaking voice : 

" When I joined my regiment again I heard with such joy, Mary — for it 
brought me near to you at last — that all our available forces were to be con- 
centrated at L, to await the enemy, and to strike what was hoped would 

be a final blow. We came at sunset, after a severe march, and met other 
bodies of troops that had already arrived. There happened to be among the 
soldiers a boy, just recruited, whom I knew — Tom Harkness, from our own 
town, Mary, and he told me all the home news, of the women's suffering and 
struggles ; and he told me of you, my darling, and of our child, and that 
you were not quite well ; in fact, had been ailing for some time, with a cough 
which grew worse, and that it was thought you were pining for a sight of 
me. 

" What he said just seemed to take away my senses — I was like a crazy 
man. I could not sleep or eat, or even think of anything but you. To be 
so near, just six short miles away, and yet not see you, and you not well and 
longing too to see me, and to think how we had been parted ever since our 
wedding day most, without a word or line to break the long, weary time — 
oh, God ! these thoughts drove me mad, and I made up my mind to do a 



THE DESERTER'S STORY. 



427 



desperate thing. I took a vow to see you, darling. I planned to do rny 
duty in the fight, to do it well and bravely and not to spare myself ; then, if 
God spared rny life, — and I felt in my heart that he would — I planned to 
steal away and run the six miles that lay between us ;just to come to you, to 
look at you, and hold you in my arms, and kiss you, and beg you to keep up 
for my sake, — for me who loves you so, that if anything should happen that 
I should lose you, I would not care to live, Mary, not a day or hour." 

He spoke with desperately-restrained passion; but a faint gesture of dis- 
sent from her stopped the words. She had motioned feebly towards the 
child, though her eyes never wandered from his face. 

" No, Mary, not even for her sake. * You are all my life to me, God 
must not take you from me!" He fell on his knees beside her, and the 
agony, long repressed, came from his lips in passionate, beseeching words : 
" God has brought us together, He must not part us again. Oh, Mary, Mary ! 
do not leave me. I will nurse you, care for you, stay beside you always, 

until you are well again. My love, my " His voice died away, frozen 

by the look in her face. An unearthly change was coming over it, an 
unearthly smile of tenderness and pity looked from her eyes. With her last 
breath she held out her arms to him, whispering, " Poor Jim " — then fell 
back, dead. 

He knelt beside her like a figure cut in stone, watching the cold, white 
marble of her face, and he seemed no more to move or breathe or be possessed 
of life than she, lying dead before him. 

A sound of voices outside; the snow crunched under hurrying feet ; a 
rude hand upon the latch, and a crowd of men burst into the room. They 
stopped suddenly, as their eyes met the sight within, and fell back one upon 
another. At last one man advanced timidly from among his comrades, and 
touched with a hesitating hand the stony figure kneeling by the bed. It 
rose and turned toward him. 

" Good God ! Jim, what's come to you, man, to make you look like 
that?" and a hoarse murmur came from all as they saw the havoc made in 
one short night in the brave young face. The first man spoke again : 

"Jim, old comrade, what did you do it for? You know the punish- 
ment, man, and you know there is no escape. You must have been mad to 
run through the snow and leave your footprints, clear as a sign-board, point- 
ing the way you went." He paused for some response, but receiving none 
from the motionless figure, he went on sadly: 

" There was talk of your brave conduct on the field, and the colonel 
sent for you ; and then they found that you were missing and others beside 



428 



THE DESERTER'S STORY. 



you. When the colonel heard it he fell into a great rage and swore you 
should be retaken, and the others also, and made examples, and before day- 
break parties were ordered out in search of ~ you;. and Jim, poor fellow, it 
was a straight road that led us here. It's the saddest morning's work I've 
ever done, but we have our orders and you must come along with us." 

Then, with sudden hope, another friendly voice said : 

" Comrade, it may not be so desperate after all. When the colonel 
hears the story we've got to tell of how we found you, and when he knows 
how well you fought only yesterday, I think he will pardon you, Jim ; I 
think he'll not let the sentence be death." 

At last a sign of life from the man before them. Had he just awakened 
to the meaning of the words they spoke ? A strange gleam, almost of joy, 
passed across his face. He answered nothing, but turned and bent over the 
still figure on the bed, and spoke to it, low and gladly. They caught a few 
words, indistinctly. They saw him gently kiss the cold lips. Then he rose 
and advanced toward the group, leaning on their guns. At this moment 
a baby's plaintive cry struck on their ears. One of the men went and lifted 
the infant tenderly in his arms, but the father took no notice; his face 
was again a face of stone. 

They inarched out of the house, a silent, awe-stricken band, with sor- 
row in all their hearts. The doomed man walked in their midst, and his 
heart was torn by a great agony which made him dead to all the world 
around him. 

It was all in vain. The colonel was much moved by the story they told 
him and by his respect for the grief of so brave a man, but there could be 
no mitigation of the sentence. " In time of war there is nothing which can 
excuse the deserter, and there is no punishment for him but death." 

These were'4iis words, and the time was fixed for the execution of the 
sentence. Unnerved and shaken, a few of his comrades went to take their 
last leave of Jim. They found him unchanged ; he heard them without 
emotion ; when one of them promised to take the baby and care for it as 
his own, a faint look of gratitude came into his eyes, just for a moment. He 
shook hands with them all and they left him, much distressed. 

At sunset he was led out and shot. Twenty bullets pierced his body. 
When they took the bandage from his eyes, they wondered at the look of 
joy on his dead face. 

They buried them together — Jim and Mary. It was all they could do 
for him, and as they filled in the earth above the rude coffins, many stern 
eyes shed tears over the deserter's dishonored grave. 



THE AUTHOR OF "MY MARYLAND." 



429 



THE AUTHOR OF "MY MARYLAND." 

By Eugkne L. Didier. 

ON the nineteenth of April, 1861, the first blood of the Civil War was 
shed in the streets of Baltimore. Early on the morning of that 
day news reached the city that several regiments of Federal troops 
were to pass through on their way to the invasion of Virginia. A 
sudden uprising of the Southern sympathizers resulted in a fight between 
the soldiers and the citizens, in which five of the former and twelve of the 
latter were killed. When this startling news was flashed through the 
country, it reached a young Marylander, who was a professor in Poydras 
College, at Pointe Coupee, in the distant State of Louisiana. This young 
Marylander was James R. Randall. His heart was fired, and after a sleep- 
less and feverish night, he arose and wrote u My Maryland." The poem 
was sent to the New Orleans Delta, at that time one of the leading news- 
papers of the South. It was soon published, and James R. Randall, like 
Lord Byron, " awoke one morning and found himself 
famous." " My Maryland " became the favorite war song The Favorite 
of the South. Under its inspiring influence thousands of of ^Je South 
young men rushed forward to die. It roused the " chiv- 
alry " of Maryland — a people ever open to ' ' the intoxication of sweet 
sound" — and added 10,000 soldiers to the Confederate army. Milton 
received five pounds for " Paradise Lost," Poe received ten dollars for " The 
Raven," but Randall did not receive one cent for " My Maryland." 

With the other Southern youths, young Randall rushed headlong into 
the war, and showed a practical as well as poetical interest in the Southern 
cause. After the first battle of Manassas, when Beauregard's army was 
expected to march on Washington, the Maryland secessionists were said to 
be taking active measures for joining the Southern Confederacy. An extra 
session of the Legislature was called, and, as a majority of its members were 
secessionists, it was generally believed that they intended to precipitate the 
State into the Rebellion. When Randall heard this, he wrote his second 
war song, " There's Life in the Old Land Yet." But the "life in the old 
land " was soon quenched by the arrest and imprisonment of the secession 
members of the Maryland Legislature, after which " My Maryland " and 
other Southern spngs were suppressed. 

When Pelham, the wonderful boy cannoneer, was killed in an inglorious 
night skirmish, fighting as a cavalryman, Randall's muse was once more 



43Q 



THK AUTHOR OF "MY MARYLAND." 



inspired, and he sang an " In Memoriam " of the " Young Marcellus," full 
of beauty and pathos. " Arlington " finished our poet's quartette of 
Southern songs. I quote the following verse from " My Maryland," as a 
specimen of this spirited lyric: 

Hark to an exiled son's appeal, 

Maryland! 
My mother State, to thee I kneel, 

Maryland! 
For life and death, for woe and weal, 
Thy peerless chivalry reveal, 
And gird thy beauteous limbs with steel, 

Maryland! My Maryland! 

The story of how the poem was set to music and adopted as a Southern 
war-song, forms a romantic and interesting incident of the Civil War. The 

music at first chosen was Frederic Berat's u Ma Norma- 
A Romantic die," but that was soon " swept away," to use Mr. Ran- 
the^ivH r> War ball's own language, when the lovely German lyric, 

u Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum," was selected as a more 
spirited air. Shortly after the battle of Manassas, General Beauregard 
invited several Maryland ladies, who were living in Virginia, to visit his 
headquarters, near Fairfax Court House. The ladies and their escorts 
encamped the first night at Manassas, where they were serenaded by the 
famous Washington Artillery, of New Orleans. The boys in gray, at the 
close of the serenade, called for a song from the ladies, and Miss Jennie 
Cary, standing at the door of the tent, sang " My Maryland." The refrain 
was quickly caught up by the soldiers, and the camp rang with the words, 
" Maryland, my Maryland." As the last notes died away, the wild Confed- 
erate yell was given, with " three cheers and a tiger for Maryland." A spec- 
tator of the scene relates that there was not a dry eye in the ladies' teat and 
not a cap with a rim on it in camp. This is how " My Maryland " came to 
be adopted as a national war-song of the South. 



AFTER MANY YEARS. 



431 



AFTER MANY YEARS. 

By a Union Veteran. 

• 

IN the spring of 1864, I was a member of an organization attached to 
General Kautz's division of cavalry, and participated in his great 
Southside raid. 

On the afternoon of May 7, we reached Stony Creek, Sussex County, 
Va., situated on the. Petersburg Railroad, about twenty miles south of 
Petersburg city. We found the place fortified and quite strongly garrisoned, 
but after a sharp little fight which lasted about an hour, succeeded in routing 
the enemy and capturing the place. 

Fifteen years later, business called me to Virginia, and on the afternoon 
of December 14, 1879, I stepped from a train at Stony Creek, and set out on 
foot for Parham's store, distant five miles, my destination. I took the road 
leading eastward, as directed by the station agent, and half a mile on my 
way came to where it forked, and here halted, being puzzled as to which 
was the route for me to follow. In my dilemma I looked about and dis- 
covered a horse and cart approaching from the direction of the station, the 
same being driven by a white man. Accordingly I waited for him, in order 
to inquire my way. As he drew near I perceived that the horse was old and 
lean, the cart rickety and dilapidated, and the driver, a man apparently 
about thirty-eight years of age, thin and poorly clad. A thick matted beard 
of light red color covered his entire face. Altogether, the whole outfit was 
about the worst I had ever seen. The cart, covered with small particles of 
cotton, showed plainly that hauling that commodity was the work to which 
it was then being put. 

" Stranger, can you inform me which road leads to Parham's store?" I 
asked of the driver, as he drew near. 

" This one to the right," he replied, driving by me, and turning into the 
same himself. 

I followed along behind the cart for about a minute, when the driver, 
accosting me, said : 

" Say, pard, I go a right smart ways on the road to Parham's myself, 
and if you are not afraid of getting cotton all over your clothes, you may 
jump in and ride with me." 

As much for the sake of having company as for the benefit to be derived 
from the ride, I accepted his invitation and sprang into the cart, taking a 



432 



AFTER MANY YEARS. 



seat on the edge of the high box, the driver being seated down on the bot- 
tom of the vehicle. 

" I reckon you're a stranger hereabouts," said my companion, as I 
seated myself. 

" Yes, sir, I am," I replied. 

" Whereabouts do you belong ?" 

" In the State of New York." 

" I reckon you was never at Stony Creek before ? " 

"Yes, once before." 

" When ?" 

" If I recollect aright, it was on the seventh day of May, 1864." 
" What, pard," now ejaculated my companion in astonishment, " was 
you one of Kautz's men ? " 
u Yes, sir, I was." 

"Why, I was there myself, that day," declared the Virginian, enthusiast- 
ically, "so let's shake," putting up his hand, which I cordially grasped. 

" So you was one of Kautz's Yankee raiders ?" he continued, still 
retaining his hold on my hand. u Well, well, believe me, I am right glad 
to meet you, though you made us run right smart that day, and for forty 
hours I hid in the swamp above here, on the Nottaway, to escape being 
made a prisoner, while you were prowling hereabouts. Well, Yank, how 
have you been making it since the war ?" 

"Only just fairly," I replied; "how has it been with yourself?" 

4 1 Poor, pretty poor, pard. You see, my people, who were reckoned some 
consequence before the war, lost all they possessed, about forty thousand 
dollars, by the same. Therefore, when the trouble ended I had nothing 
but my hands to depend on. My health was bad, and I had not been 
accustomed to labor. However, I did the best I could under the circum- 
stances, and by hard work have managed to get a few acres of cotton land, 
on which I do my utmost to make an honest living. But times are hard, 
and I tell you I have had a right smart struggle to get along. Yes, my 
people lost forty thousand dollars," he continued, " but, Yank, that is all 
right, and I lay up nothing against you or any one else. We each fought 
manfully for what we considered was just, and as manfully must we abide 
by the consequences. But, darn me, Yank, it just does me a heap of good 
to meet one with whom I have stood face to face in battle, though we were 
enemies at the time," and, impulsively seizing my hand again, he shook it 
heartily. 

Just then a dilapidated carriage, containing two men, drove up behind 
us, and, looking around, my companion, addressing the driver, exclaimed ; 



GENERAL E. KIRBY SMITH. 



433 



" Good day, Jim ; say, who do you reckon I have got here with me?" 

" Haven't the least idea," answered the man addressed. 

" Well, I have one of Kautz's d d Yankees, right from the North, 

and a tolerable good fellow he seems to be, too." 

Jim, it appeared, had also been in the fight at Stony Creek, consequently 
he was also greatly surprised to meet me, and he, too, expressed his delight 
in language warm and forcible. 

By this time we had reached the point where I was to turn off and pro- 
ceed southward, my companions' route taking them straight ahead toward 
Sussex Court House. 

On parting with the two ex-Confederates, both shook my hand warmly, 
and insisted that I should visit them before I returned North. 

As they drove off, the one with whom I had ridden, and whose name 
I regret I cannot recall, in a husky tone of voice, and with tears actually 
glistening in his eyes, exclaimed, waving his hand at me : 

" Good-bye, Yank, and God bless you and grant you a safe return to 
your friends and home." 

Wishing him a return " God-speed," I turned and walked away, feeling 
the tears also wet on my own cheek. 

Never in all my life have I met with a man who treated me as royally 
as this man did. Though poor, ragged and uncouth, he was one of Nature's 
noblemen — generous, kind and brave, and by me our meeting, after many 
years, will never be forgotten. 



GENERAL E. KIRBY SMITH. 

By George P. Northrop. 

GENERAL EDMUND KIRBY SMITH, the last of the Confederate 
generals, has followed his old comrade, Beauregard, with but short 
delay. His noble spirit, on the afternoon of March 28, passed into 
the mystery of death, to rest forever with his ancient friends and 
foes, all in camp around the headquarters of the Supreme Commander. 

He was one of the most beloved leaders of the lost cause. He had been 
the last hope of many an old, scarred soldier, who, after the surrender of 
Johnston, immediately started for the West. Where? "I join Kirby 
Smith, and fight it out to the end with him," These words express the 
28 



434 



GENERAL E. KIRBY SMITH. 



confidence held by the boys in gray for General Smith. Many and many a 
poor fellow, without home, fortune, or family, said these words, and started 
to join " Kirby " Smith during those dark days, when, after so much hard 
fighting, their indomitable spirits could not remain quiet and submit to the 
inevitable evils, as they thought, of that peace for which they had sacrificed 
their all. 

The pure life, martial achievements, civic virtues, and stainless career, 
crown him as one of the foremost Americans. He was above all an Ameri- 



and his name is written across the pages of that epoch to remain bright and 
undimmed for all time. In the Titanic struggle he was one of the first to 
shed his blood for his belief. His was the very last order issued in that fatal 
conflict. When invested with plenary authority, he did not abuse the power. 
As a civic ruler and as military commander, it is doubtful in which he 
excelled. His record in both capacities is matchless for ability and integ- 
rity. His thorough honesty and clean comportment challenge admiration 
from posterity. Since the war he was ever intent upon any measure which 
tended to benefit his people, or to make more prosperous the America that 
he loved — one and united. 

Edmund Kirby Smith was born in St. Augustine, Florida, May 16, 
1824. His father was Joseph L,. Smith, first Presiding Judge of the United 
States Circuit Court for the Eastern District of Florida, but formerly he was 
a lawyer of prominence at Litchfield, Connecticut. He had also been in the 
United States Army. Edmund and another brother, Ephraim, were sent to 
West Point, and were graduated from that place. The latter fought in the 
Mexican war, and was killed at the storming of the City of Mexico. 

Edmund was admitted to West Point in 1841, and was commissioned, 
upon his graduation, in 1845, a brevet second lieutenant of the Fifth Infantry. 
He was almost immediately assigned to duty under General Taylor, and 
participated in all old Zach's engagements in Mexico, except Buena Vista. 
After Taylor's last battle he was transferred to General Scott's command, 
fighting in every battle in which his commander led him. Smith was twice 
brevetted for distinctive gallantry — at Cerro Gordo and at Contreras. He 
attained the full rank of captain for his Mexican service. After peace was 
declared Captain Smith was transferred to West Point, where he remained 
for three years as assistant instructor of mathematics. He then served under 
Major Emory on the Boundary Commission, to locate and determine the line 
between Mexico and the United States. 



A Man of Sterling 
Character. 



can. He exemplified it by his brilliant services and 
imperishable deeds performed in the Mexican War, where 
his valor wreathed a chaplet of fame around his brow, 



GENERAL E. KIRBY SMITH. 



435 



Upon the organization of cavalry regiments, he was assigned to the 
Second Regiment as captain, and was ordered to Texas, where he did 
splendid fighting against the Comanche Indians. He 
served along the frontier until the spring of 1861. In Smith as an 

... Indian Fighter. 

January of that year he was commissioned a major, but 

when Florida seceded he resigned, April 6. For his services in Texas he 

received the thanks of their Legislature by a special act of that body. 

His reputation being made, and valued by the Confederate leaders, he 
was commissioned major of cavalry, and immediately after was made lieu- 
tenant-colonel of Van Dorn's cavalry. Before he could join his command 
he was set to work at Lynchburg, Virginia, to organize the recruits gathered 
there. Here u Joe " Johnston found him, and made him his adjutant-general, 
and took him to Harper's Ferry. While acting as adjutant-general, he was 
promoted a brigadier-general, and was assigned to a brigade of Johnston's 
corps. General Smith made himself felt early in the war. When the battle 
of Bull Run was fought he marched thirty miles to join in the movement, 
and he arrived at such an opportune time that, with Kershaw, he succeeded 
in changing the current of the battle. During the last charge he was so 
severely wounded that he was forced to retire from the field. He was carried 
to the residence of Colonel John R. McDaniel, of Lynchburg, where he was 
nursed back to health by the colonel's beautiful daughter. As the young 
general (thirty-seven years old) regained his health he lost his heart, and the 
romance had the happy ending that attached itself to so many similar events 
of the war. He became a benedict and a major-general at the same time. 

Upon his complete recovery he was sent to East Tennessee, where he 
took command of the detached right wing of Bragg's army. In February, 
1863, President Davis sent him to relieve Holmes, in com- 
mand of the Trans-Mississippi Department. Though at Ht& Q^J^."^ the 
that time this was a position of considerable leisure, it soon 
became one of great importance. Grant's victories at Vicksburg and along 
the Mississippi had effectually cut the Confederacy in two, and communica- 
tion between Richmond and Smith's headquarters was so irregular that it 
became necessary for the Confederate Congress to endow Smith with greater 
powers and a higher rank even than that of major-general. He was made 
full general, becoming thus the sixth officer of the Confederacy to hold that 
rank, the others being Cooper, Joe Johnston, Robert E. Lee, Beauregard, 
and Braxton Bragg, in the order named. 

His department included Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas and Indian Terri- 
tory. Here he organized a government complete in every detail. He made 
and kept open his communications with Richmond by running the blockade 



436 



A UFK SKETCH OF GEORGE DEWEY. 



at Galveston, Texas, and into Wilmington, North Carolina. He sent con- 
stantly large quantities of cotton to the Confederate agents abroad, and 
introduced all kinds of machinery from England and France. He estab- 
lished factories and furnaces, opened mines, made powder and gun-castings, 
and had made his district self-supporting and of itself a powerful nation in 
the incredibly short time of two years. He refused to surrender until long 
after L,ee and Johnston had laid down arms. In 1864 ne opposed and 
defeated General N. B. Banks in the memorable Red River campaign. 

After he laid down his arms he became President of the Atlantic and 
Pacific Telegraph Company in 1866-68, and later Chancellor of the Univer- 
sity of Nashville in 1870-75, and subsequently had the chair of mathematics in 
the University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee. Sewanee is the West Point 
of the South. The curriculum and high degree of proficiency attained 
there equals that of the famous Hudson River school for soldiers. 



A LIFE SKETCH OF GEORGE DEWEY. 



Story of the Great Admiral Whose Heroism has Won the Praise 

of the World. 

IT is always the unexpected that happens. While all eyes in this 
country were turned to Cuban waters and speculation was rife as to 
when the Spanish fleet would make its appearance and give battle; 
while people on the New England coast, and New Jersey as well, were 
digging holes in the ground and hiding their valuables, the drama of the 
war unfolded itself in the far off South Pacific; the curtain was rung up and 
the Real Hero of the conflict made his initial bow to the American people. 
The navy has always been the favorite branch of our service militant, and 
while Admirals Gherardi, Bunce, Meade, Sicard and Captains Evans, Schley, 
Sampson, Taylor and a few others were more or less familiar by name, that 
of Dewey could not have been told by one person in a hundred prior to 
May 2, 1898. Even when on January 3, 1898, a cable message was received 
at the Navy Department from Commodore George Dewey, reporting that he 
had taken command of the Asiatic naval station at Nagasaki, Japan, no 
public comment was caused. Dewey at that time was not a name to con- 
jure with. In this connection it is worth while to state that Commodore 
Dewey was the first officer to command a squadron who had not hoisted an 



-A LIFE SKETCH OF GEORGE DEWEY. 



437 



admiral's pennant. Heretofore all commodores assigned to flag command 
had had the rank of acting rear-admiral given them. Secretary Long had 
decided that this was unnecessary, and directed that officers should have the 
rank and title of their actual grade in the service. 

It was reserved for the inarch onward of human events, to bestow upon 
Commodore Dewey the specially created rank of admiral, the highest held 
in the United States service. 

1. Thomas Dewey came from Sandwich, Kent, England, in the year 
1633, to Dorchester, Mass. He removed about 1638 to Windsor, Conn., 
where, on March 22, 1638, he married the Widow Frances 

Clarke. He died at Windsor, April 27, 1648. * enea l ° gy of 

1 ' ' ^ Admiral Dewey. 

2. Josiah Dewey, born, 1641, settled first at Westfield, 

but subsequently removed to Lebanon, Conn. He married in 1662 Hepzibah 
Lyman. 

3. Josiah Dewey, of Lebanon, Conn., born, 1666. 

4. William Dewey, of Lebanon, Conn., born, 1692 ; died, 1759. 

5. Simeon Dewey, of Lebanon, Conn., born, 1718 ; died, 1751. 

6. William Dewey, settled at Hanover, N. H., born, 1746 ; died, 1813. 

7. Captain Simeon Dewey, of Berlin, Vt, born, 1770 ; died, 1863. 

8. Dr. Julius Y. Dewey, of Montpelier, Vt, born, 1801 ; died, 1877. 

9. Admiral George Dewey, born, 1837, ^ n Montpelier, Vt., and was 
appointed to the Naval Academy from his native State when he was seven- 
teen years old. When he graduated, in 1858, he went with the steam frigate 
" Wabash " on a cruise with the Mediterranean Squadron, which lasted until 
1859. Ensign Dewey was at home when Fort Sumter was fired upon. Just 
one week later, April 19, 1861, he received his commission as a lieutenant. 
He was assigned at once to the steam sloop " Mississippi," which was to form 
part of the West Gulf Squadron. The " Mississippi " was a side-wheeler of 
seventeen guns, and was commanded by Commander McLancthon Smith. 
The " Mississippi " was with the squadron when it ran past New Orleans on 
the way back. Later on she was knocked to pieces and blown up by the 
powerful batteries at Port Hudson. 

In 1863 Dewey was on the gunboats that engaged the Confederates at 
Donaldsonville (just above New Orleans on the west bank of the river). 
In 1864 he was attached to the North Atlantic blockading squadron, assigned 
to the gunboat "Agawam." At the close of the Civil War Dewey served 
on the European Squadron, first on the " Kearsarge " and then on the 
frigate " Colorado." 

In 1868 he was assigned to duty at the Naval Academy. In 1870 he 
received his first command, that of the " Narragansett," which was employed 



438 



A LIFE SKETCH OF GEORGE DEWEY. 



on special service until 1875. The latter part of the time during which he 
was on the " Narragansett," Dewey was a commander. 

The Pacific Survey of 1872-3 was intrusted to him. After two years 
as lighthouse inspector and five as secretary of the Lighthouse Board, Dewey 
was put in command of the u Juniata," on the Asiatic Squadron in 1882. 
In September, 1884, he was promoted to captain and placed in command of 
the " Dolphin," then brand-new, and one of the four vessels to which the 
name of " white squadron " was first given. 

From 1885 to 1888 he was the commander of the " Pensacola," the flag- 
ship of the European Squadron. In 1888 his energy and ability to com- 
plete matters of detail was recognized by making him chief of the Bureau 

of Equipment and Recruiting, which carried with it the 
His Appointment to k f commodore< In May lSg ^ he took ano ther turn 
the Asiatic Squadron. Jy 

on duty as a member of the Lighthouse Board. He was 

made an actual commodore February 26, 1896, and was, about that time, 
put at the head of the important Board of Inspection and Survey. He was 
transferred to the Asiatic Squadron, January 1, 1898, and, as before stated, 
took command January 2. 

Admiral George Dewey is the hero of this war who appeals most strongly 
to the popular imagination. He won his place by a splendid victory, in 
which personal daring went hand in hand with strategic skill, and he kept 
it Dy the exhibition of other traits not always found in a successful fighter. 
In the management of the delicate questions arising from the victory he 
won, he showed the qualities of a diplomat and an administrator. There 
is no parallel instance in American history of a great reputation so quickly 
made. Other military and naval commanders in other wars have come 
rapidly to the front, but with them there was some battle of minor impor- 
tance or the gradually spreading publicity of a campaign before their 
achievement of great renown. There has never been another who in a 
single day sprang so dramatically from comparative obscurity to world-wide 
fame as Admiral Dewey. 

Yet there is nothing dramatic in Dewey's character. He has always 
been known among his fellows as a modest, unassuming, competent officer, 
who went about his duties without demonstration and accepted responsibili- 
ties simply as they came. There are men in the navy of proved gallantry 
who have gained wide reputation from an effective phrase or catching 
speech. Dewey is not one of these. It would be quite foreign to his nature 
to fling out " Remember the Maine ! " as a signal from his flagship, like 
Schley, or to threaten, like Evans, that he would " make Spanish the pre- 
vailing language in hell." He was never the kind of an officer whose name 



A LIFE SKETCH OF GEORGE DEWEY. 



439 



lends itself readily to the embellishment of adjectives. Nobody ever 
thought of calling him " Fighting George," and he would have smiled on 
them with quizzical good humor if they had. There is nothing of the 
bluff sea-dog about him. 

Not many stories are current about Dewey, and the few which are told 
illustrate rather his benevolence and generosity of mind than any striking 
military trait. There is the incident, for example, of the 
gunner aboard the " Olympia," who celebrated the victory H,s ^^g" 13 " 17 
of Manila Bay by getting gloriously drunk. He was 
court-martialed for drunkenness and was sentenced to fifteen days' imprison- 
ment, with a diet of bread and water. When the findings of the court 
came before the Admiral, he endorsed on it : " The verdict is approved ; 
the sentence is remitted in view of the victory lately won by the fleet under 
my command." 

There was a touch of human sympathy in this which every jackie in 
the navy could appreciate. Those who have cruised under him say he is 
one of the kindest officers to the men forward who ever commanded a ship. 
They speak of his tenderness of heart, of his reluctance to punish petty 
offenders, and of his toleration for the countless harmless peccadillos which 
a sailor-man may be guilty of. At the same time he maintained absolute 
discipline aboard, and to serious offenders he was a terror. He despised a 
liar and would show one no mercy. It is related that on one of his cruises 
a petty officer went ashore at Gibraltar, and came back the worse for liquor. 
He was brought before Dewey at the mast next morning and began to tell a 
story about his being ill. Dewey stopped him short. " You are lying," he 
said, severely. " You were very drunk. I heard you myself. I will not 
have my men lie to me. I don't ask them not to drink, but I do expect 
them to tell the truth. If you had told me frankly you had taken a drop 
too much on liberty you would have been forward by this time, for you 
returned to the ship. But for lying you get ten days in irons. Eet me 
have the truth hereafter. I am told you are a good seaman. A good sea- 
man has no business telling lies." 

No sailor ever lost by owning up frankly to a fault and throwing him- 
self on Dewey's mercy. He might be sentenced in accordance with the 
regulations, but the chances were that he would be released 
from the brig before his sentence was half worked out. So His Men Devotedly 
it came about that Dewey's men like him and respect him. Attached to Him. 
No skipper ever commanded more loyal crews. The same 
qualities which Dewey exhibits aboard ship he has shown in the executive 
positions which fall to a naval officer's lot ashore. When he was in charge 



140 A LIFE SKETCH OE GEORGE DEWEY. 

of the Bureau of Equipment at the Navy Department he was known for the 
thoroughness with which he administered the Bureau. Neatness of method, 
promptness and effectiveness characterized everything he undertook, while 
unfailing courtesy marked his bearing toward those with whom he had 
business. In person, Dewey is of medium height and slender, with just the 
suspicion of a stoop. His dark eyes are large and piercing, his face has the 
clear-cut firmness of the man of the world. His hair, just turning gray, is 
lined in the middle, with just the suggestion of a wave on either side. His 
dress is immaculate and always in the mode. He is a clubman and likes 
society, but he is not a story-teller or a wit. He is rather a well-bred gen- 
tleman who has seen much of the world and who combines a fondness for 
the company of his fellows with a gentleman's reserve and poise. He has 
never thrust himself forward or sought notoriety even in roundabout ways. 
He lived in Washington, while Harrison was president, as Chief of the 
Bureau of Equipment ; but there were few in the city outside the service 
who knew him, and up to the first of May his was simply a faintly remem- 
bered name. But those who knew him are not surprised by what he has 
done. They knew that underneath a quiet and courteous exterior was as 
finely chiseled a mind as ever set to work upon a naval problem, and from 
his record as a lieutenant in the Civil War they were aware of the cool 
bravery which marked the man. 

It was forty-five years ago that Admiral George Dewey entered the 
Naval Academy with seventy-one other boys, each anxious to be a naval 
officer. The members of his class represented only thirty- 

cL D s eWRy S ° ne StateS ° f the Ulli ° n - 

Before the termination of the four years' course at the 
Academy, forty-nine of these novitiate officers had resigned and one had been 
dismissed. Only twenty-two of the class remained to graduate and receive 
their first commissions as officers of the navy. Soon after, six others 
resigned and before they had advanced a single grade in rank. One 
resigned later on, two were killed in battle and three others died. When 
our war with Spain opened, only seven of these officers remained in the 
navy, and two of these, Allan V. Reed and Joshua Bishop, were on the 
retired list of the navy. The five officers on the active list were : Commo- 
dore John A. Howell, the inventor of the torpedo that bears his name and 
then commanding the northern patrol squadron ; Commodore Henry L,. 
Howison, Commodore Albert Kautz, Commodore Norman H. Farquhar and 
now Admiral George Dewey. 

By such process of evolution and selection it is that we obtain our 
heroes. The foundation for the victory at Manila was laid in the section 



A LIFE SKETCH OF GEORGE DEWEY. 



441 



room at the Academy ; in the experience gained in lonely watches at sea j 
in the crash of battle at New Orleans under Farragut, and in the sincere 
discharge of the multifarious duties of the faithful officer during long and 
weary years. It is only by this that such results can be obtained ; yet there 
are men foolish enough to imagine that we need no preparation for war, or, 
at least, who talk and legislate as if they so believed. 

At Hong Kong, April 26, 1898, the " Esmeralda " brought 600 refugees, 
mostly Chinese, from Manila. She reported that all American vessels at 
the Philippine Islands put to sea on March 23. The British Consul at 
Manila was caring for the interests of the Americans there, and, if neces- 
sary, they could find refuge on British vessels. Guns had been taken from 
Spanish ships to aid in the defence of the city. The fortifications were 
useless, the guns of obsolete types and ammunition scant}-. 

■At Madrid, April 26, 1898, an official announcement was made regard- 
ing the movements of the American fleet, which, it was understood there, 
was under orders to bombard Manila. It said : " An American squadron, 
consisting of vessels of no great importance, was approaching Manila. 
There is much public enthusiasm at the place, and the inhabitants are pre- 
paring to resist with great resolution." 

The newspapers made caustic comments on President McKinley's tardy 
hesitations and scruples. The}' scoffed at the slowness of the operations of 
the American squadrons, which, they declared, showed that they were inad- 
equately organized and incapable of seriously taking the offensive. 

Had Admiral Dewey's wishes been consulted by the Navy Department 
he would not have been the commander of the squadron that committed 
such terrific destruction in Manila Bay. It was one of the 
chances of war that sent him to far eastern waters. Admi- ^^s^cnt'* 
ral Dewey preferred another assignment. He did not care 
to go to the Asiatic station, and neither did half a dozen young officers to 
whom he offered the details of flag secretary and flag lieutenant. They all 
thought that if we had war with Spain the European squadron and that on 
the home station would figure more conspicuouslv. None believed that the 
United States would extend its operations to the Philippines. At the time 
Admiral Dewey was ordered to Asiatic waters the chances of trouble with 
Spain were apparently remote, although the situation was still threatening. 
When, therefore, Commander F. V. McXair was detached from his command 
early in January and ordered home, it was necessary to have a flag officer to 
relieve him at once, and the detail was between Commodore Howell and 
Admiral (then Commodore) Dewey. Both wanted the command of the 
European station, where Admiral Selfridge was due to be detached early in 



442 



A LIFE SKETCH OF GEORGE DEWEY. 



February. Dewey was especially anxious for the command, but Howell 
succeeded in securing the billet, and the orders to both officers were made 
out in December. 

Commodore Dewey left the United States at once, and he raised his flag 
on the " Olympia " on January 3. Commodore Howell raised his flag on the 
u San Francisco" on February 7 following. Commodore Dewey had more 
trouble in finding a staff willing to accompany him to the station than usually 
falls to the lot of flag officers; not that officers were not willing to serve 
with the Commodore, but that they saw greater prospects of naval glory on 
the home station. 

Captain Lamberton, who was sent out to command the "Boston " and 
who failed to get his ship before the fight, was another officer unwilling to 
join the fleet. He sailed after the " Maine " was blown 
Honor Found and saw t k that t] c i iance f trouble with Spain 

Where Least ^ , _ , 

Expected. was promising. He wanted to remain on the home sta- 
tion, but there was no command vacant for him and he 
took the " Boston." At least a dozen officers on the squadron appealed to 
their friends to try and get them home so that they could be on hand when 
war was declared. Through refusal of their wishes every one of them was 
in the hottest engagement of the war and received the thanks of Congress 
and a gold medal for their valor. 

Manila is a very bustling port with a very beautiful bay. The town, 
which is the capital of the Philippines, is a city of 250,000 inhabitants, 
according to the census of 1880. The large bay, on the shores of which it 
lies, is oval in form and at least 120 miles in periphery. 

"its Bay" d Int0 {t tlie River Pasig em P ties - The cit >' P r oper, that is, 
the fortified portion of it, is on the left bank of the Pasig, 
a spot selected in 1571 by Lopez de Legaspi as the future centre of Spanish 
power in the islands. The Spanish and Creole portion of the population 
constitute about one-tenth of the whole, the others being natives and Chinese. 
Most of the Chinese are engaged in commerce. 

The city proper is a group of forts, convents and administrative build- 
ings. It is surrounded by lofty walls and connected with the commercial 
part of the community, on the right bank of the Pasig, by two fine bridges. 
As a centre of trade it is admirably situated at the mouth of a navigable 
river and of an interior sea, which insures it the products of a whole prov- 
ince. Upon the waters of the bay rides in times of peace a commercial 
fleet representing the nations of the whole world. 

A canal connects Manila with the seaport towns on the other side of 
the island — the eastern side. In the narrows at the entrance of the bay is 



A LIFE SKETCH OF GEORGE DEWEY. 



443 



the volcanic island of Corregidor. During the southwest monsoon, when 
the tides are highest, ships of 500 tons can anchor in the mouth of the Pasig, 
under cover of a long jetty, while small warships can enter the cove of Cavite 
nine miles further down. This cove is protected from the high tides by a 
long sandy promontory called the Hook. 

Manila is very favorably situated for general commerce. It commands 
all the routes of navigation between the Strait of Londe and the mouth of 
the Yang-tse-Kiang. Laperause said of the city that its commercial location 
was the best in the world. Up to 181 1 it was the connecting point of 
Spain's trade with her American colonies. 

It was in the bay of Manila, defending the capital of the Philippines, 
that Spain had gathered eleven vessels of her war fleet, their services being 
required in an effort to repress the Filipino insurrection, that had cost 
Spain a large expenditure of blood and treasure. The 
Spaniards believed themselves to be secure against the Strai e ht ,nt <> the 
attack of a hostile fleet, and ridiculed the suggestion of Tor En^my.^^ 
such a possibility, regarding their position, as well as the 
number of their war ships, as being unassailable, for the bay was well laid 
with torpedoes, while the fortifications that commanded the entrance to the 
bay and those defending Cavite mounted many pieces of modern heavy guns. 
Notwithstanding these fancied securities, Admiral Dewey did not hesitate to 
seek the enemy in his fastnesses, and to engage him on his favorite grounds. 

The American Asiatic squadron, Admiral George Dewey commanding, 
was made up of six steel ships, the storeship " Narstan " and the collier 
" Zaffi.ro. " The warships were the protected cruisers 
"Olympia," Captain Charles V. Gridley ; "Boston," Cap- Th %™"£ plne 
tain Frank Wildes ; " Raleigh," Captain Joseph B. 
Coghlan, and " Baltimore," Captain Nehemiah M. Dyer ; and the gunboats 
" Concord," Commander Asa Walker, and " Petrel," Commander Edward P. 
Wood. The " Concord " joined the squadron in January, and the fleet 
" Baltimore," which had been Rear-Admiral Joseph N. Miller's flagship at 
the Pacific station, joined the squadron a few days later. The " Concord " 
and " Baltimore " took the places of the gunboats " Helena " and " Monoc- 
acy." The former was with the blockading squadron off Havana harbor, 
while the old iron gunboat " Monocacy " was left behind at Woosung to 
look after American missionaries. The squadron assembled to take the Phil- 
ippines was the most foimidable American fleet ever seen in Asiatic waters. 

The " Olympia," the flagship, is one of the finest ships in the navy, 
he ranks next to the "Columbia" and "Minneapolis" in speed, and 
esides these, the armored cruisers " Brooklyn " and " New York " were the 



444 



GRANDEUR OF OUR COUNTRY. 



only other cruising ships having a gfeater length. Most of the service of 
the " Olympia " had been at the Asiatic station. On one occasion, when 
she was going to Yokohama, she was caught in a tremendous storm. In 
spite of the high head seas, she made remarkable speed, going straight 
about her business, undisturbed, at the rate of nearly twenty knots an hour. 
She was designed at a time when the unlucky " Reina Regente," the beau- 
tiful Spanish cruiser which visited New York at the time of the naval cele- 
bration in the spring of 1893, was the fastest cruiser afloat. The " Reina 
Regente " had been built for Spain in England, and had steamed nineteen 
knots under natural draught and twenty-one knots under forced draught. 
The Navy Department's idea was to build a cruiser which should resemble 
the fleet Spaniard, but should yet excel her. 

A complete and picturesque description of how Admiral Dewey met and 
annihilated Montojo's squadron of eleven ships in the Bay of Manila (May 1), 
and of how, by his assistance, the city of Manila was cap- 

" ow th . e J*;? 00 tured (August 13), is described elsewhere in this volume. 
Rewarded Him. v fe Jn 

It remains only to be told that for his superb courage and 
skill the nation gave him the most generous recognition, Congress reviving 
the long obsolete rank of Admiral to which President McKinley immediately 
appointed him, so that Admiral Dewey's distinguished services have been 
fittingly rewarded, his rank now being the highest, with the largest pay 
($13,500 per annum), in the military service of the country. 



THE GRANDEUR OF OUR COUNTRY. 

THE magnificent extent of the United States, not considering our 
new possessions, is scarcely comprehended by our own people, so 
that the ignorance of foreigners in this respect is hardly to be 
condemned as many of us are disposed to do. Our war in the 
Philippines has tended to increase the perplexities of people across the sea, 
as the dispatches to foreign journals of our doings in those far-away islands 
are much more numerous and definite than are those they receive from 
the United States. Indeed, it is a surprising thing to know that notwith- 
standing our extensive commerce with European countries, and the copious 
information supplied by our newspapers respecting affairs of Europe, America 
is scarcely mentioned in the incident columns of English, French or German 



GRANDEUR OF OUR COUNTRY. 



445 



papers. For this reason foreigners, who have not visited the United States, 
have a scanty knowledge of the extent or character of our country. Thus 
it is that when report is made to foreign journals of our losses in the Phil- 
ippines, of how Smith of Texas was killed, and Brown of Montana was 
wounded, our English, French and German friends wonder how long this 
may continue before the United States will have no more soldiers to send 
over to take the place of those fallen. 

Have they never heard the old poem : 

*' Thebes inarched her thousands from her hundred gates, 
We march our millions from our hundred States." 

Most of the men who fought in Cuba were regulars, but most of the 
boys in Manila are volunteers, and are still reckoned by their State organiza- 
tions. By the way, could anything be more splendid or give to a foreigner a 
more striking object lesson of the Republic's power ? Imagine a foreigner 
watching an army of United States volunteers and asking natural questions. 
It would be something like this : 

Foreigner — What men are these ? 

Answer — The Fourteenth Texas Infantry. 

Foreigner— And what is Texas? 

Answer — A State down on the Gulf of Mexico. 

Foreigner — How large is Texas ? 

Answer — It has 265,780 square miles. It is somewhat larger than 
Austria-Hungary, a third larger than the German Empire. 
Foreigner — What soldiers are these ? 
Answer — The Third Montana. 

Foreigner — Where is Montana and how large is it ? 

Answer — It is in the Central West and close up to the Dominion line. 
It contains 146,080 square miles, or some 20 per cent more area than the 
United Kingdom. 

Foreigner — And where do these soldiers hail from ? 

Answer — They are the Fourth Colorado, w T hich is a Rocky Mountain 
State, with an area of 103,929 square miles, or say twice the size of England. 

Foreigner — And these ? 

Answer — The Tenth California, on the Pacific, with an area of 158,360 
square miles, or a little more than three-fourths the size of France. 
Foreigner — And these? 

Answer — The Second Oregon and Third Washington, also on the Pacific, 
1 containing together 165,210 square miles, or say a little more than two- 
rds the size of the German Empire. 



446 



A BRACK OF SPLENDID WAR STORIES. 



Foreigner — And how many States have you in all ? 

Answer — Forty-five States and some territories; they fill all the space 
between the two great oceans, and at one bugle call last summer, in every 
one soldiers fell into line ; the tread of the thousands was like the tolling of 
the bells of destiny, and the flashings of their standards reflected back the 
sunshine through one-eighth of the sun's daily round. And they all speak 
one language ; all sing the same songs ; all turn for inspiration to the same 
flag, and though each is a separate wave, when blended they make but one 
ocean, and when in full roar all the shores of the nation are shaken, for in 
majesty, in latent power, in unapproachable splendor there is no counterpart 
for them in all the records of the nations that have existed, since nations 
were first organized on earth. 



A BRACE OF SPLENDID WAR STORIES. 

Times When a Fellow Feels Like Running, and When the Enemy 

Becomes a Friend. 

By W. W. Byam. 

THE squad of old soldiers whose acquaintance I had made was one 
that proved of more than usual interest, for while warm friends 
and generous neighbors now, time was, in the long ago, when 
these same men had met as enemies in fierce charge and counter- 
charge on many a hard-fought field. But kindly time had healed the 
wounds and mellowed all the bitter past, and now, under the broad leaves 
of a spreading palm in the plaza of a little half-Spanish, half-American 
town in the Lone Star State, I sat and listened to the tales of a glorious past 
as told by these one-time foes. At times I was amused at the statements of 
comparative strength and losses — statements that would, no doubt, make 
the war records in the archives at Washington blush at their inaccuracies. 
However, these tales of unequal combat were common property, each in his 
turn being as reckless as to those "superior numbers of the enemy " as the 
other had been extravagant before him, so that in the end I doubt not that 
the average would compare favorably with the official reports made at the 
time. 



A BRACK OF SPLENDID WAR STORIES. 



447 



It is surprising the exactness with which the veteran of his country's 
wars recalls the details of the glorious day when victory crowned his arms, 
an exactness that becomes amusing when compared with the apparent dim 
remembrance he seems to have of time and place when fortune frowned. 

I one day ventured to suggest to one of these veteran Sons of Mars that 
where so many victories had been gained some one must have met defeat ; 
at which the grim old warrior, straightening up, declared : u Never was 
whipped but once. Never but once, sir." 

Almost surfeited with " victories gained," I begged this survivor of the 
Old Guard to tell me his experience of a battle lost, when, with an apology 
for his failing memory as to dates and numbers, the old soldier, shifting his 
"Climax," began the confession of his sole defeat by saying: 

" I was one of that army of 25,000 men that led Banks up Red 
River. I say ' led,' because it is an historical fact that the general in com- 
mand of that expedition never joined his army until the 

, r r r 1 • . . , . Howl Was Whipped, 

day before its defeat — m fact, overtaking it just about m 

time to meet the head of his column, turned back in broken rout. As I 

was saying, we went up there 25,000 strong, expecting to find about 15,000 

rebels. We found the 15,000 rebels all right. They were at home, and 

expecting us. But the balance of the combination failed to work, and all 

because of too much train and wagon-master and not quite enough general. 

" Banks, you know, was a politician ; better politician than statesman, 
and, as it proved, a much better statesman than general. However, he had 
gained somewhat of notoriety by outrunning Stonewall Jackson in a race 
down the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, a year or two before, and the 
newspapers had discovered, in the success of that race, that his strategy was 
closely allied to divine inspiration. Be that as it may, the tactics of that 
political general in the battle at Sabine Cross Roads were — oh, dear !" And 
here the old veteran fairly groaned. "Those tactics were too new; were 
not flexible enough ; lacked a swivel or something, for when we changed 
' Dick ' Taylor's army with our baggage-train those tactics failed to connect, 
and Richard got away witH the baggage comfortable like, and with twenty- 
two pieces of artillery, 200 wagons, and a lot of healthy mules, men and 
other military impedimenta besides. 

u That battle of Sabine Cross Roads was the first fight where my 
brigade had been compelled to take second money, and what was equally 
serious to me and the Government, it found me among the 
number that went over to call on ' Dick ' that same even- „ A . War , m Ch * sc 

Under Incentives. 

ing." I may as well add that I went at Richard's solicita- 
tion, and that the gentleman who brought the invitation also brought a gun. 



448 



A BRACK OF SPLENDID WAR STORIES. 



You see, at the moment Mr. Taylor's request reached me I was busily 
engaged in trying to induce an insubordinate ball to ' close up ' on a charge 
of powder that was a long way farther down that gun-barrel, but the case 
proved an aggravated one, and beyond my ability to subdue. I suppose I 
lacked judgment in the matter, or had got mixed up with those peculiar 
tactics in use on the field that day. It certainly wasn't zeal or industry I 
was short on, for at the very moment I received Mr. Taylor's invitation to 
call on him I was all of a sweat charging that confounded ramrod against a 
tree, trying to force that stubborn ball down where it would be in a position 
to do the most good. The man who had called to escort me over to see Mr. 
Taylor remarked that he didn't think I would need my gun in the immediate 
future, and closed the conversation rather abruptly by saying that I might 
leave it and he would send for it later, and upon his suggesting that Mr. 
Taylor was in a hurry to see me, I dropped everything right there and went 
along with him ; not, however, without somewhat of regret at leaving old 
i Betsy,' as I called her, for she had been my constant companion from the 
first day at Shiloh, where she had kicked my shoulder black and blue, and I 
had really become attached to the old Springfield. 

" That battle of Sabine Cross Roads was, if anything, more unfortunate 
for me than it was for the general in command, for while he only lost his 
tactics and a reputation, I lost my liberty and a gun, a loss the Government 
was far less able to bear. 

" I have observed before now," continued the veteran, * 1 that all the men 
I know of, or have read of, that were ever captured in battle, none ever sur- 
rendered themselves prisoners of war until each individual found himself 
surrounded by at least half a regiment of the exultant enemy. But truth 
compels me to admit that on that day at Sabine Cross Roads it took only one 
lone man to capture me, and what is more, the one man I surrendered to 
was an undersized fellow at that. 

" But, gentlemen," the old soldier remarked, with rising emphasis, 
u you should have seen the gun the fellow carried. It was the first thing I 
noticed on turning my head when the owner of it first 

His Gun s Bore S p Q k e £ me> j s t od so near to it, and the fellow held it 
Big as a Keg. r ' 

so steady that I could look into the muzzle clean down 

the barrel, and see that English-made bullet lying snug and businesslike at 
the bottom. What calibre, did you ask ? Well, really, I could not say. I 
only recall at that moment it looked to me about the size of a nail-keg. 
Anyhow, I never saw, before or since, a gun that looked as big until I saw 
that Krupp affair at the Columbian Exposition. 

" No," the old veteran sighed, " it only required one man to take me 



i 

i 



THE AMBULANCE WAGON. 



WASH-DAY IN CAMP. 




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IN ACTIVE SERVICE. 




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A COMPANY OF ROOSEVELT'S ROUGH RIDERS. 




NATIVE WASHWOMEN OF MANILA CROSSING A DRAW-BRIDGE OVER 

THE CITY WALLS. 



A BRACE OF SPLKNDID WAK STORIES. 



4.49 



prisoner. And do you know," he added, " I have always felt under obliga- 
tions to that one man for not shooting me with that infernal big gun." 



"Well, comrade," remarked one of the squad, addressing himself to the 
old soldier who had confessed losing his liberty and a gun to one lone rebel, 
"just about the time you started over to call on the Taylor family, my regi- 
ment took its first lesson in learning the difference between chasing the 
other fellow and having the other fellow chase us. The difference is 
remarkable. 

" You see, we discovered that we had bit off somewhat more than we 
could chew, so we started back to find the Nineteenth Army Corps, that we 
knew were taking it comfortably five miles in the rear. It was growing late, 
you remember, and we all wanted to get back there before dark. However, 
that only accounted for part of the hurry. 

" I never before had the least suspicion that my speed and staying quali- 
ties were of so high an order, and, in fact, nothing surprised me more, unless 
it was the speed and staying qualities developed by that 
other fellow. I never saw such persistent people as that A fo r a [^ RU " 
Taylor family proved themselves that day. I had run about 
a mile, when I thought I had gone far enough to slow up and catch my 
breath, and was just looking around in the brush for it, when r-r-ip came 
about a wagon-load of lead circulating around my locality. I found my 
breath at once. It is wonderful what encouragement there is in a volley, 
at the proper time and place. Well, I had that experience repeated a num- 
ber of times before I finally tired the Taylors out, a matter, I must admit, 
we did not fully accomplish until next morning, when, having fairly outrun 
the whole Taylor tribe, we beat them into Pleasant Hill by a couple of 
hours, just time enough to allow such of our generals as were sober enough 
for duty to lay a very nice trap, into which the rebels walked in a most 
accommodating manner, enabling us to thrash them just about as soundly that 
morning as they had mauled us the day before, with the result that the rebs 
started north on the run for Mansfield, and we started south on the run for 
Porter's fleet at Grand Kcore. 

" Well, comrade, it may be as you say, that we did not run from Pleas- 
ant Hill, but you will have to agree that we struck a gait that didn't have a 
bit of lost motion in it. 

. " Did any of you ever read Banks' official report of that battle of Sabine 
Cross Roads ?" the old soldier asked. All confessed they had never perused 
that interesting document. Thereupon, the veteran continued : 

29 



45Q 



BRACK OF SPLENDID WAR STORIES. 



" I read that report some years ago, and it went a long way to confirm 
my belief that much of history in general, and war history in particular, is 
mighty interesting — fiction. 

" In that official report Banks explains how General A. L. Lee brought 
on the fight with the cavalry and got whipped, and that when Lee was 
whipped he had sent in Ransom with the Fourth Division 
It Wasn't the Way f £ e Thirteenth Corps ; and that as soon as Ransom was 

They Report. 17 

pulverized, how he had sent in Cameron's Third Division of 
the same corps. After Cameron had been thoroughly whipped > and no other 
division standing around waiting for a thrashing, he tells how we ' all fell 
back, stubbornly contesting every inch of ground.' 

"How differently different individuals view the same transaction or 
situation ! Now every man in the fight that day, except the author of that 
official report, supposed we had received a royal sort of whaling, and that 
instead of i stubbornly contesting every inch of ground,' we all thought it 
was a go-as-you-please through five miles of scrub pines and brush, for the 
rear ; that it was every man for himself, and ( Dick ' Taylor take the hind- 
most. And so it was. And, gentlemen, the man who did not run that day 
either took a trip to the stockade at Tyler, Texas, or is back there yet — 
lying under the pines." 

A Strange Example of Second Sight. 

" We had no fault to find with our generals on that campaign," remarked 
the grim old Texan cavalryman in the squad. 

" Kirby Smith was an able general, who, with Fabian policy, had" 
shrewdly drawn Banks up there a hundred miles or so from his base of 
supplies, and then turned 1 Dick ' Taylor loose on him. You fellows seem 
to agree pretty well as to the manner in which 1 Dick ' did the business for 
you. My share of the work, however, ended early in the first day's fight. 

u That morning our regiment had a stubborn New Hampshire brigade 
in its front, which gave ground in a sullen manner, emptying a number of 
saddles for us, while leaving about as many of their own men lying here 
^nd there through the woods. By two o'clock we had pushed the blue-coats 
back onto their supports, where we ran up against an ugly battery planted 
at the edge of the woods across the field just in front of us, which, for the 
number of guns and the limit of time, sent us a greater assortment of cast- 
iron than I had ever seen before. We halted under that battery's fire to 
reform our somewhat disordered ranks, preparatory to charging its vicious 
guns, when our old, white-haired colonel, accompanied by his fifteen-year-old 



A BRACK OF SPIyKNDID WAR STORIES. 



45i 



son, who was acting as his orderly, rode along the line, telling the men of 
the work ahead, ?\id what he expected of them. Returning to the right of 
the regiment, th • '! hoy still at his side r the colonel took his position a few 
paces in the front, then, rising in his stirrups, gave the command, sharp and 
clear : ' Attention, battalion ! Draw sabres ! Forward ! Charge !' 

u I was a sergeant in troop ' A,' and sat in my saddle, at a distance not 
exceeding ten paces from the colonel, and vividly recall seeing the boy, at 
the first word of that command, pitch headlong out of the 
saddle. I saw the colonel turn his head and look down at * Last Sight Bcforc 

Unconsciousness. 

the body 01 his ..on, heard him complete the command, and 

then saw the line sweep forward in the charge. Then everything seemed to 

fade away in a blank. 

" Now, the remarkable feature of that circumstance was the fact that a 
piece the same shell that unhorsed the colonel's son killed my horse, 
while .mother fragment gave me a dangerous wound in the head, one that 
the surgeon, upon examination, said must have rendered me unconscious the 
instant it struck me. In fact, I was afterwards told by a number o f my 
comrades, who were in the ranks, that with the explosion of the shell the 
boy and I fell at the same instant of time. Nevertheless, I saw the boy fall 
to the right of his horse, and saw the riderless animal dash away in the 
charge, keeping close to the colonel's left side, — facts that, I was afterwards 
told, occurred just as I recalled them ; still I had no remembrance of being 
wounded, 'nor any sensation of falling. Another peculiar feature to me of 
that incident was, that with returning consciousness I retained for some time 
the vision of that riderless gray keeping his place in the charge alongside 
the colonel. 

"Our surgeon, a man of some scientific attainment, explained my 
recollection of the events on the hypothesis that I had fallen in a manner 
that left my face exposed to the front (which was a fact), where the pupils of 
my wide-open but unconscious eyes had received and retained the image of 
the events as they transpired, and that the panoramic image thus retained 
had been gradually developed to my recovered reason — claiming, in fact, 
that I had seen nothing of what occurred until at least an hour after it had 
taken place. He further explained that I had never necessarily heard more 
than the first word of the command to charge, but knowing what was to 
follow, I had anticipated its completion in my mind, and, as it was the last 
mental impression I had received up to the moment the shock had rendered 
me unconscious, my returning reason had simply taken up and completed 
that final impression. Nevertheless, the incident, with all its details, 
remains as real to me as any event of my life* 



45* A BRACK OF SPLENDID WAR STORIES. 

V 

" With the full recovery of my faculties, I discovered I was lying with 
my left leg under my dead horse, and from the pain my imprisoned limb 
gave me I knew it must be broken. Raising myself on my hands, hoping 
to discover some one able to aid me, I was pleased to see ( Sammy,' the 
colonel's boy, sitting up on the spot where I had seen him fall, chatting as 
lively as a cricket with a blue-coat who sat near him. The Yankee, I 
learned, had been attracted by the boy's suffering cries, and 
Ga thc H Enemy * lac ^ crawled up the slope to the side of the wounded lad, 
where, making a rude but serviceable tourniquet from a 
piece of his own shirt, he had succeeded in stopping the flow of blood and 
saving the youngster's life. On discovering I was alive, the Yankee dragged 
himself over to where I lay, when I observed that he was a slim, smooth- 
faced boy, and, although wearing the uniform and straps of a lieutenant, he 
certainly could not have been more than nineteen years of age. He told me 
that he was shot through the lungs, and was very weak from loss of 
blood, and, furthermore, that our cavalry had ridden over him in their 
charge, injuring his leg. Nevertheless, he volunteered to try and release 
me from my painful position, and began at once by digging in the soft 
ground under my leg, using my sabre to loosen the earth, then scratching it 
away with his hands. After removing quite a quantity of dirt in this 
manner, he cut away my boot and carefully pulled it from my foot. He 
then got on his knees, and putting his arms about me dragged me bodily 
away from under the horse. The pain was so intense at the movement of 
my broken leg — the bones protruding through the skin — that I became 
unconscious, and remained so for some time. Upon recovering, I saw the 
young lieutenant lying quietly near me, and ' Sammy ' by his side, bathed 
in tears. I was surprised to see the lad crying, for, notwithstanding his ugly 
wounds, he had before seemed cheerful enough. In reply to my inquiry as 
to the cause of his tears, he pointed to the young officer, saying, ' He's 
dead.' The boy then told me that the lieutenant's effort to pull me from 
under the dead animal had broken his wounds open afresh, and that while I 
was lying unconscious he had bled to- death. 

" Sore with our stiffening wounds, we lay there waiting and hoping for 
help, until the sun went down and the stars came out, and then, weak and 
exhausted from loss of blood, we slept, the boy never to wake, for when 
help and morning finally came, we found that in his restless sleep he had 
loosened the bandage the lieutenant's kindly hands had wound about his 
shattered limb, and the little fellow, unconscious of the fact, had gone to 
join the generous foe that silent lay beside him." 



NICKNAMES OF 1861-1865. 



453 



NICKNAMES OF 1861-1865. 

SCHOOLBOYS and soldiers seem to share an especial fondness for nick- 
names. In our great war, the comrades that gathered around the 
camp-fires had a familiar sobriquet for almost every one of then 
leaders. Sometimes it would be a mere abbreviation of surname or 
Christian name ; more often it would be some epithet that gave a picture of 
the man — a character-study in miniature, as it were. 

It would be interesting to make a collection of these war-time nick- 
names. In many cases they throw no little light upon the personality of 
their wearers, and the relations that existed between commanders and men 
— a factor that often influenced the course of a campaign. There was Gen- 
eral Thomas, for instance, who will go down to history as the " Rock of 
Chickamauga." To his soldiers he was always " Pap Thomas." General 
Meade's spectacles, and his proverbially keen powers of observation, were 
alike commemorated in his familiar appellation of "Four-eyed George." 
Meade accepted the name in the kindly spirit in which it was given, but 
other officers were more sensitive to the rough yet good-natured humor of 
their troops. General Butler, for example, could hardly be expected to relish 
the sobriquet of " Old Cockeye," due to his slight facial peculiarity. Hooker, 
too, is said to have protested vigorously against " Fighting Joe " — so vigor- 
ously, indeed, that he frequently proved its aptness. 

" Rosy," for General Rosecrans, was a mere abbreviation. More express- 
ive were " One-armed Phil," for General Kearney, who had left an arm in 
Mexico ; " Saddlebag John," for General Pope, who once declared that his 
headquarters were in his saddle ; and the " Black Eagle of Illinois," for the 
dashing Logan. What a wealth of affection and loyalty is crystalized into 
" Little Phil," the name that Sheridan's troopers gave their brilliant leader! 
McClellan, too, was a commander of great personal popularity, and his men 
spoke of him as " Little Mac." 

Few of the nicknames of the generals on the other side of the conflict 
are as well known as these. " Stonewall " Jackson is historic ; General Lee 
was always spoken of by his faithful, loving soldiers as "Mars' Bob." Gen- 
eral Joseph E. Johnston was dubbed " Uncle Joe " by his comrades during 
the Mexican War, and continued to bear the same title during the " Civil 
War," probably because of his proverbial care and thoughtfulness of his 
men. General J. E. B. Stuart was always " Jeb " to his troopers. 

These patronymics, like the animosities which brought them into being, 
no longer exist save in memory, for all that noble band are now fraternizing 
on everlasting fields, where war's drums and battle's screech are heard never 
more. 



454 GENERAL TAYLOR'S VICTORY AT BUENA VISTA. 



GENERAL TAYLOR'S VICTORY AT BUENA VISTA. 



The Most Gallant Exploit of the Mexican War, that Made Old 
Rough and Ready President 

By Edward S. Elus, 
{Historian.) 

GENERAL WINFIELD SCOTT arrived off Vera Cruz in January, 
1846, and assumed command of the American forces in Mexico. 
He had come to carry out the suggestion of General Zachary 
Taylor that Vera Cruz should be captured and made the point 
from which a strong force should penetrate into Mexico. To do this effec- 
tively, Scott took most of Taylor's best officers and troops, leaving him with 
less than 5,000 men, of whom not more than one-tenth were regulars. This 
reduction of his effective strength was a severe blow to Taylor, who was 
preparing to make a vigorous campaign, but he submitted without protest. 

Santa Anna had gathered an army of twenty thousand men, full of 
enthusiasm, and eager to be led against the " northern barbarians." When 
Taylor learned that his enemy was approaching, he was 
exultant, and with his small army he set out to meet him. Santa Anna's Big 

• • Army sent to 

He left Monterey on the 31st of January, arriving at crush Taylor. 

Sa!tillo on the 2d of February. Pressing on to Aqua 
Nueva, twenty miles south of Saltillo, on the San Luis road, he remained 
nearly three weeks, when he fell back to Augustina, a gorge in the moun- 
tains opposite Buena Vista. Here with his army of barely five thousand 
men, Taylor strengthened his position and calmly awaited the coming of 
his antagonist. 

On the morning of February 22, the armies were almost within sight 
of each other. A flag of truce entered the American camp, with the follow- 
ing message from the Mexican commander to General Taylor : 

You are surrounded by twenty thousand men, and cannot, in any human probability, 
avoid suffering a rout and being cut to pieces with your troops ; but, as you deserve consid- 
eration and particular esteem, I wish to save you from such a catastrophe, and for that purpose 
give you notice, in order that you may surrender at discretion, under the assurance that you 
will be treated with the consideration belonging to the Mexican character; to which end you 
will be granted an hour's time to make up your mind, to commence from the moment my 
flag of truce arrives at your camp. With this view, I assure you of my particular considera- 
tion. God and liberty ! 

Antonio I^opez de Santa Anna. 



GENERAL TAYLOR'S VICTORY AT BUENA VISTA. 455 



The messenger did not have to wait an hour to take back the following 
from " Rough and Ready : " 

A Lacon'c An cr ^ IR * — * n re P^ to y° ur no * e °^ '^is date, summoning me to sur- 
render my forces at discretion, I beg leave to say that I decline acceding 
to your request. With high respect, I am, sir, your obedient servant, 

Z. Taylor. 

Taylor waited for Santa Anna to begin the battle. Well aware of the 
desperate resistance he was certain to meet, the Mexican leader was cautious. 
There was some skirmishing through the afternoon and night. Although it 
was winter, the weather was soft and balmy, and the music of the Mexican 
bands, mellowed by the intervening distance, floated to the Americans who 
were sleeping upon their arms and formed a strange prelude to the terrible 
scenes that were to be enacted on the morrow. 

It was hardly light when the battle began and raged furiously through- 
out the day. An attempt was made to turn the flank of the American right, 
but it was defeated by the Illinois troops. An assault against the centre 
was then repulsed by Captain Washington's artillery, after which the left 
flank was assailed furiously. An Indiana regiment, through a mistaken 
order, gave way, and for a time the American army was in peril, but the Mis- 
sissippians and Kentuckians threw themselves into the breach, the Indiana and 
Illinois troops rallied, and the Mexicans were driven back. General Taylor, 
standing near Captain Bragg's battery, saw just then signs of wavering in 

the enemy's line. " Give them a little more grape, Cap- 
M^Gra^e" tain," he commanded, and Bragg did as he was ordered. 

At sunset, the Mexicans broke and fled in confusion. The 
Americans slept on their arms, expecting the battle to be renewed 
in the morning, but when daylight came it was discovered that the 
army had disappeared, leaving five hundred dead and dying on 
the ground. Many were suffering from hunger, thirst and exhaus- 
tion, and General Taylor gave them all the care possible. The Mexi- 
cans lost about two thousand men, the American casualties being seven 
hundred and forty-six. Among the killed was Colonel Henry Clay, a son of 
the Kentucky statesman. Colonel Jefferson Davis, in command of a Missis- 
sippi regiment, displayed great gallantry. The fame won by General Taylor 
at Buena Vista made him President of the United States within the following 
two years. It was the last battle in which he ever took part. He had nobly 
finished the task assigned to him, and soon after returned to the United 
States. 



456 



# FOR TEXAS INDEPENDENCE. 



FOR TEXAS INDEPENDENCE. 

Story of the Most Terrible Battle ever Fought^ on American Soil. 

By Senora Candelaria, a Witness. 

"Thermopylae had its messenger of defeat, but the Alamo had none." 

SENORA CANDEEARIA, who died in San Antonio, Tex., on February 
10, 1899, at the great age of 114 years, was the sole survivor of the 
Alamo. She alone could tell how Travis, Crockett, Bowie and 114 
other heroes defended the old mission house for fifteen days against 
5,000 Mexican regulars, led by the ferocious Santa Anna ; how they held the 
Mexicans in check so that the Texans might rally to the defense of" their 
homes ; how they fought until they were overwhelmed and annihilated, 
and won this immortal legend for their monument : 

" ThermopylcB had its messenger of defeat, but the Alamo had none" 
Three days before her death Senora Candelaria told the tragic story of the 
fiercest fight ever waged on American soil. Notwithstanding the great age 
of this extraordinary woman her mental faculties were singularly clear, her 
memory was unimpaired and her powers of description were remarkable, as 
the story taken from her lips and recorded here shows, constituting one of 
the most valuable contributions to history that was ever made. 

" Yes, it is true that I was in the Alamo during its siege and terrible 
fall, and I am the only survivor of that awful struggle. 

" Colonel Bowie died in my arms, shot dead by a Mexican bullet that 
grazed my own chin. Good old Davy Crockett died fighting like a wild 
beast within a few feet of me, and brave Colonel Travis within a few feet 
the other way, while all around in heaps lay the dead bodies of every man 
who had defended the Alamo, tumbled together with three dead Mexicans to 
every one of them. 

" I was in the fort as a nurse for Colonel Bowie. I was living in San 
Antonio, near by. Five days after the cannonading began in the fort — I 
can never forget that frightful, incessant rumble of guns ! — five days after it 
began I received a letter from General Sam Houston, which I took as an 
order and obeyed immediately. It read : 

" ' Candelarita,' as General Houston always called me, ' go and take care 
of Bowie, my brother, in the Alamo.' It was signed 4 Houston.' Bowie had 
typhoid fever." 



FOR TEXAS INDEPENDENCE. 



457 



Mine. Candelaria briefly recalled the events that led up to the tragedy 
and sketched the heroic men that figured in it. The commander of the 
garrison, lieutenant-Colonel W. Barrett Travis, was a 
The Alamo native of North Carolina, twenty-eight years old, six feet 

Besieged ; the J ° J ' 

Beginning of War. ta ^> a lawyer. He was on the proscribed list of Santa 
Anna. The second in command was Colonel James Bowie, 
famous as the inventor of the knife which bears his name. He was a native 
of Georgia. David Crockett was a native of Tennessee and a typical fron- 
tiersman, famous as a mighty hunter. He was elected for two terms in the 
House of Representatives, where he figured as a sort of eccentric, bailing 
a third term, he went to Texas. With twelve Tennesseeans he arrived 
in San Antonio three weeks before the siege of the Alamo. 

Determined to subjugate Texas, Santa Anna had pushed on through 
Mexico to San Antonio, appearing before the Texas city on February 22, 
1836. After consolidating with Cos and Sesma, Santa Anna's ami)- num- 
bered between six and seven thousand men. This force had been depleted 
to about five thousand during the hard winter march. 

The small Texan garrison at San Antonio was taken by surprise and it 
hastily retreated across the river to the Alamo, lieutenant A. M. Dickenson 
catching up his wife and child on his horse on the way. 

Santa Anna's demand for immediate surrender was answered by Colonel 
Travis with an emphatic u No " from a cannon. The blood-red flag of " no 
quarter " was hoisted on the tower of the church of San Fernando and the 
siege was begun. 

The mission of the Alamo was established by the Franciscan friars 
where it then stood, and still stands, in 1722. The buildings consisted of a 
church with walls of hewn stone 5 feet thick and 22^ feet high. The 
church faced the river and the town. The central portion was roofless at the 
time of the siege, but arched rooms on each side of the entrance and the 
sacristy, which was used as a powder magazine, were strongly covered with 
a roof of masonry. The windows were high, close and narrow, to protect 
the congregation from Indian arrows. 

Adjoining the church was the convent yard, a hundred feet square, with 
walls 16 feet high and 3 ^ feet thick, on the inside embanked by earth to 
half their height. At the further corner of the convent yard was a sally- 
port, defended by a small redoubt. The convent and hospital building, of 
adobe bricks, two stories in height, extended along the west side of the yard 
191 feet. The main plaza in front of the church and convent covered 
nearly three acres. It was enclosed by a wall 8 feet high and 33 inches 
thick. 



458 



FOR TEXAS INDEPENDENCE. 



To defend this place Travis had fourteen pieces of artillery, but none 
of the Texans had been drilled in their use. It was impossible to perfectly 
guard so wide a space, so the defence was concentrated ^ 
about the church and convent. Travis had been careless Defence ; the 
about provisions. Only three bushels of corn were found Devoted Garrison, 
at first in the Alamo, but some eighty or ninety bushels 
were afterward discovered in one of the houses. When it took refuge in 
the Alamo the garrison numbered 145 men, which was increased during 
the siege to 177 men. Few as they were in number, the men were with- 
out military organization and were held together only by a common heroic 
purpose. 

Santa Anna erected batteries and prepared to make a long siege, rather 
than trust the results of an assault upon the stronghold. The defenders 
were equally cautious, and, husbanding their ammunition, made little use of 
their cannon, placing their reliance in the rifle, which they knew so well 
how to handle. Getieral Castrillon attempted to build a bridge across the 
river, but the constructing party was within reach of the rifles of the Texans, 
and in a few minutes thirty were killed and the survivors withdrew. 

Iyittle by little the Mexicans advanced, fighting during the day and 
pushing forward during the night, until the investment was nearly complete. 
On March 3 Travis sent his last message to the government. In it he said : 

I am still here, in fine spirits and well-to-do. With 145 men I have held the place against a 
force variously estimated from between fifteen hundred to six thousand, and I shall continue to 
hold it until I get relief from my countrymen, or I will perish in its defence. We have had a 
shower of bombs and cannon balls continually falling among us the whole time, yet none of us 
have been injured. ... A blood-red flag waves from the church of Bexar and in the 
camp above us, in token that the war is one of vengeance against rebels. . . . These threats 
hjxve had no influence upon my men but to make thern fight with desperation and that high- 
souled courage which characterizes the patriot who is willing to die in defence of his country, 
iberty and his honor, God and Texas, victory or death. 

The Mexicans had effected little by their cannonade, their guns being 
only field pieces of light calibre. The Texans, however, were worn by con- 
stant vigilance and frequent alarms in expectation of an assault. 

After the last of Santa Anna's troops had arrived, on March 2, they 
took three days to rest. On the fifth the Mexican general held a council of 
war and determined on an assault the next day. In the meantime, Madame 
Candelaria had entered the Alamo to nurse Colonel Bowie. 

u After fighting like a demon for ten days," continued the centenarian, 
every muscle in her wrinkled face twitching as she warmed up to the most 
Tragic part of her story, " brave Colonel Travis got word that no more men 



FOR TEXAS INDEPENDENCE. 



459 



could come to his aid. He knew then that there was no hope, but he never 

thought of such a thing as giving up the Alamo ; no, not he. He called his 

men together at night, told them how matters stood, and, 

The Line of the d raw i n o- a ] j lle on the ground with his sword, said : ' Those 
Sword— Death ' & „ , . s ■ 

Chosen by All. who want to fight it out with me come inside that line, 
and those who have had enough and think they can 
escape go outside.' All stepped over the line to Travis' side but one Mexi- 
can. Some say he escaped. I do not know what became of him. 

" All day and all night long there was shooting with cannons and with 
rifles. Sometimes the Mexicans got brave and advanced in small parties, 
but they were always driven back. God must have been with the Texans 
up to the last day, for not a man was killed until then, although bombs and 
cannon balls came thick and fast inside the fort at times, and bullets kept 
whizzing through the air. 

" All this time I was taking care of good Colonel Bowie. Besides his 
fever he was suffering from a fall from a platform. He was not able to 
get out into the yard to fight, but he would stay with his men, and I nursed 
him as well as I could. 

" With so many in the fort, and with working and shooting going on all 
about, it was not easy to take care of a man with a fever. But it made little 
difference, well or sick was all the same after Santa Anna's savage men broke 
into the fort. All were shot, clubbed or bayoneted to death together. 

" Between three and four o'clock in the morning of March 6, Sunday, the 
JMexican forces were formed for assault The troops were divided into four 
columns and each column was supplied with scaling ladders, crowbars and 
axes. The cavalry were drawn around the fort to prevent any attempt at 
escape, but, laws ! there wasn't any need of that ! 

" Through the gray light of the morning the bugle sounded, and the 
bands began playing the Spanish air of . ' Deguelo ' (cut- 
'MYo'gTa^ter." ' throat). It was the signal of no quarter. The troops came 
on a run. The men in the Alamo were ready for them, 
and they were received with a fire from the artillery and rifles which must 
have killed scores. 

" The column headed for the northern wall was driven back in a hurry 
by Davy Crockett and his men. The attack on the eastern and western 
walls failed, and then all four columns hurried around to the north side of 
the Alamo and were driven forward like cattle, by the blows and curses of 
their officers. 

" There was an awful drove of them — more men than I had ever seen 
together or ever have since. Once again the Texans drove them back, but 



460 



FOR TEXAS INDEPENDENCE. 



on the next trial they scaled the wall, tumbling- over it twenty at a time, 
while the retreating Texans shot them at a frightful rate. The Mexicans 
carried the redoubt at the sally port and swarmed into the convent yard, 
driving the defenders into the convent and hospital. ' 

" It was an awful scene — Mexicans and Texans all mixed up. The range 
was too short for shooting, so they clubbed their rifles and fought hand to 
hand. The terrible bowie knife did great service. Some 
of the enemy turned the captured cannon against the soft Thc End of the 

Defence; The 

adobe walls and began firing, boon all was bang ! bang ! Massacre Begins, 
smoke, swearing and general confusion. Crazed men were 
fighting everywhere, bullets rattled against the stones and blood spattered 
all about. Oh, there was never anything so bad before and I know there 
never has been since. 

"The Texans fought from room to room in the convent, using their 
clubbed rifles and their bowie knives so long as they had life in. them. 
Colonel Travis and Colonel Bouham fell dead early in the struggle near the 
door. Twice the Mexicans fired a howitzer loaded with grapeshot into the 
big room of the hospital. Fifteen Texans were found dead in that room and 
the bodies of forty-two Mexicans lay just outside. 

" The last of the fight took place in the church, into which the Mexicans 
poured in droves, having got through the stockade. Seeing that it was all 
up with the defenders, Major T. C. Evans started for the powder magazine 
to blow up the building, as agreed upon by the defenders. 
But as he entered the door he was shot dead. I shudder ,f t !" ip * to B,ow 

Up the Magazine. 

when I think what would have happened if he had 
succeeded. I wouldn't be here, that's certain ; no, there wouldn't have been 
even one survivor of the Alamo. Poor Davy Crockett was killed near the 
entrance to the church, his rifle in his hands. He was the last to die. 

" I had hard work keeping Colonel Bowie on his couch. He got hold of 
his two pistols and began firing them off, shouting all the while to his men 
not to give up. He was raving. I had moved his cot to the arched room to 
the left of the entrance to the church. 

" Finally a bullet whizzed through the door, grazing my chin — see, it left 
a scar which is there to-day — and killed Bowie. I had the Colonel in my 
arms. I was just giving him a drink. Mrs. Dickenson and her child had 
gone into the room opposite the one I was in. A wounded man, Walters, I 
think was his name, ran into that room with Mexicans after him. They 
shot him and then hoisted his body high on their bayonets until his blood 
ran down on them. 



FOR TEXAS INDEPENDENCE. 



" At nine o'clock the Alamo had fallen. Not one of its defenders was 
alive. It seemed to me that the fighting lasted days instead of only a few 
hours. 

u The Mexicans spared all of us women and the children in the fort. 
The survivors were Mrs. Dickenson and her child ; Mrs. Alsbury, a niece 
and adopted daughter of Governor Veramendi, and her little sister, who had 
gone to the Alamo with Colonel Bowie, their brother-in-law ; a negro boy, 
servant of Colonel Travis, and myself. They all died long, long ago, and 
poor old Senora Candelaria cannot live much longer. 

" After the fighting was ended, five men who had hidden themselves were 
found by the victors. By this time Santa Anna had left his shelter and 
come to the shattered fort. The five men were brought before him. A kind 
officer asked that they be kept prisoners, but Santa Anna laughed and 
ordered his soldiers to kill the men with their bayonets. 

" Then, by order of Santa Anna, the bodies of all the dead Texans were 
piled in a heap with brush and wood and burned. That was the end of the 
heroes of that great struggle. Is it any wonder that the old senora's thin 
blood runs a little faster whenever she hears ( Remember the Alamo?' " 

Senora Candelaria did not tell the story as connectedly as it is here set 
down. She was very feeble then, but possibly realizing that her end was 
near she threw all of the fire left in her worn old brain into the telling. Sit- 
ting in the sunshine in sight of the Alamo she loved 
Pas^Th^SeeressT s0 inucn > sne unfolded the narrative slowly, with fre- 
of Siaughter. quent intervals for rest. She spoke mostly in Spanish, with 
occasionally a sentence in broken English. Her voice had 
lost its force, but her hands had not. Her gestures were eloquent. Much 
of the story was told by gestures, for which words have been supplied. 

Apart from her wonderful experience in the Alamo, Senor Candelaria's 
life was full of incident. She was born amid turmoil. Her parents, Don 
Jose Antonio and Senora Castanon, led a party of settlers along the Rio 
Grande in 1785. They halted for a night on the bank of the river where 
Laredo now stands. That night they were attacked by Indians. During 
the .panic which ensued, while the settlers were shouting, clapping their 
hands and swaying the bushes in order to lead the savages astray as to their 
number, the future Madame Candelaria was born. After soldiers from Rio 
Grande had driven the Indians away, the settlers returned and founded the 
town of Laredo. There the battle-born Mexican child grew to womanhood, 
noted for her beauty. When she was eighteen she married and moved to 
San Antonio, Her first husband was killed by Indians while on a surveying 



462 



DECATUR, THE YANKEE TAR 



expedition. She married again, and her second husband met an equally 
violent death. She had three sons, only one of whom lived to manhood. 

The State of Texas long ago voted her a small pension, and she lived in 
a little cottage near the Alamo. Toward the end she grew blind, and 
tottered the last few steps of her long road to the grave in darkness. 

Texas will see that her memory is kept green. 



DECATUR, THE YANKEE TAR 

By Colviixe Baldwin. 

IT was a bright; cool morning in October, 181 2, that the great fight 
between the American frigate, the "United States," commanded by 
the immortal Decatur, whose fame is the common heritage of the 
/American people, North and South alike, and the British frigate 
" Macedonian," commanded by Captain Carden, took place. 

As an illustration of the grand fighting qualities that belong to the 
American Navy, it deserves a place even above that which would naturally 
be given it as a story of mere heroic achievement. Without courage man 
is a poor thing. The coward is everywhere and universally despised. And 
yet courage is a quality found with almost every people, in differing forms 
and degrees. 

- There is a courage of brutality which has won many battles, oftener 
on the wrong than the right side. It is based upon a cruel instinct for 
blood, a fierce, wild impulse to conquer and hold others in subjection, and 
an utter disregard of all chivalric considerations. 

There is, again, a courage that is born of a devotion to a noble cause, 
as, for instance, when it springs from so great a love for liberty for all man- 
kind that its possessor willingly dares the worst that may 
befall man, and cheerfully sacrifices not only life, but his ^^the Good? gS 
own freedom, that others may enjoy that which he sets 
above all other earthly blessings. This courage can only be found in the 
loftiest, noblest spirit. It cannot exist in the vulgar, commonplace man. 
It flourishes by the side of the sweeter attributes of that type of human 
nature nearest akin to the divine. The man who has it is sympathetic, 
tender toward misfortune, unselfish in impulse, even to the utmost of per- 
sonal sacrifice, scorning that which is low and unworthy, yielding to the 



DECATUR, THE YANKEE TAR. 



463 



leadings of the heart even after bitter experiences which in another would 
chill the confidence of man in his fellow-man. Our own American poet has 
sung of the men who have this heaven-inspired courage : 

" The bravest are the tenderest, 
The loving are the daring." 

In these two lines he paints the composite picture of the long list of 
heroes whose exploits crowd the pages of American history. 

And of these, no man was more deservedly conspicuous, no man more 
universally loved, no man more distinguished for the possession of the char- 
acteristics of the highest type of manhood, than Commodore Stephen Decatur. 

He was bom at Sinnepuxent, Md., January 5, 1779, and was the son of 
Captain Stephen Decatur, also for many years an officer of the United States 
Navy. The younger Stephen, the subject of our sketch, entered the service 
in 1798 as a midshipman, and so efficient was he that a year later he was 
promoted lieutenant. It is a coincidence that before joining the navy he 
was employed, at the age of seventeen, to superintend the getting out of 
the keel pieces for the frigate " United States," that he was in that vessel 
when she was launched, was assigned to her as midshipman when he first 
entered the service, and afterward as lieutenant, subsequently commanded 
her as captain, as well as when she served as flag-ship of one of the squad- 
rons of which he was commodore, and in her fought one of the most brilliant 
battles history records. She seems to have been a favorite with him, and 
right staunchly did she respond to every demand her great commander made 
upon her. 

From the beginning of his career, Decatur manifested those heroic im- 
pulses which have made his name and fame an imperishable ornament to the 
history of our navy — a matter of undying pride to every true American. As 
a youth it was said of him that he was possessed of an uncommon character, 
was an officer of rare promise, " one not equaled in a million." While still 
a midshipman, serving on board the " United States," he was on deck one 
day when, in the midst of a howling tempest, the ship rang with the cry, 
" Man overboard ! " and the boats were lowered away. 

" Without hesitation," says the historian, " Decatur sprang from the 
mizzen-chains, and in a few moments his muscular arms were holding the 
drowning man above the waves, which he continued to do 
Risks His Life to uutil the boats reac hed the spot, when he passed the nearly 
Save Another. „ - -, -, , . 

dying youth into one of them, and then climbed m him- 
self. It is of such men that heroes are made, and the one that Decatur 
saved, while himself gaming celebrity, lived to see his preserver attain a 



464 



DECATUR, THE YANKEE TAR. 



fame unsurpassed Dy that of any officer of his time in the American Navy." 
Decatur served as lieutenant under Commodore Barry, on the West 
India Station, and in 1801 joined the frigate " Essex," and was sent to the 
Mediterranean, under Commodore Dale, in consequence of the hostilities 
with Tripoli. Here he afterwards served under Captain James Barron, as 
first lieutenant of the frigate w New York," and distinguished himself on 
every opportunity. At Malta he was second to an American ensign, Joseph 
Bainbridge, who fought a duel w T ith a British officer who lost his life in the 
affair. In 1803 Commodore Preble was sent to take charge of the squadron, 
which had been greatly strengthened, and, Decatur was placed in command, 
first of the brig " Argus," and subsequently the " Enterprise." 

It was at this time that he gained great renown by recapturing and 
burning the frigate u Philadelphia," an American ship, which had fallen 
into the hands of the enemy. She was lying in the harbor of Tripoli, sur- 
rounded by other Tripolitan warships, and under protection of shore 
batteries and forts. Selecting a crew of seventy men and thirteen officers, 
he placed them 011 board a captured Tripolitan vessel called the " Intrepid," 
and boldly sailed into the port on the night of February 15, 1804. He had a 
Greek pilot, and under the pretense of a vessel in distress, got alongside the 
" Philadelphia " before his true character was detected. Followed by his 
men, he sprang on board the doomed ship, and, after a fierce fight, obtained 
possession of and destroyed her by burning, having only one man wounded, 
and he but slightly, while the enemy suffered severely. This feat was pro- 
nounced by Admiral Nelson "the most daring act of the 
age." and in recognition of his courage and skill Decatur ? ne ° f * h * M .?. st Dar " 

& ' . . '"g & cts of History. 

was at once commissioned a full captain, and a sword was 

voted him by Congress, he being then only twenty-five years of age. His 

gallant crew was also handsomely rewarded. 

The remarkable career of this brave man cannot, however, be followed 
minutely in the limits of this article. During the subsequent hostilities with 
Tripoli, he continued to distinguish himself. In August, 1804, having three 
Neapolitan gun-boats under his command, he participated in an attack upon 
the enemy's flotilla of gun-boats, which were lying under the guns of the 
shore batteries and a formidably armed brig. Each of his boats singled out 
and boarded an antagonist, and, after desperate hand-to-hand conflicts with 
sword and pistol, overpowered them. Decatur captured a vessel, and, taking 
her in tow, went after a second. On boarding her, he engaged in a personal 
and most desperate struggle with her commander, who, after pretending to 
surrender to Lieutenant James Decatur, our hero's brother, had treacherously 
assassinated him-. After a few moments of fierce fighting, Decatur killed 



DECATUR, THE YANKEE TAR. 



his opponent and held the vessel. In this action, Decatur lost only fourteen 
killed and wounded, while the enemy's loss amounted to fifty -two, out of 
eighty. 

When the war of 1812 broke out, Captain Decatur was placed in com- 
mand of a squadron, with his old friend, the u United States," carrying forty- 
four guns, for a flag-ship, and it was on the twenty-fifth of October that he 
met and captured the " Macedonian," as we are about to describe. 

Captain John Carden, of the Royal Navy, who was in command of the 
" Macedonian," was one of the ablest and most famous of the officers of the 
British Navy, conspicuous no less for his skill than daring and tenacious 
bravery. He and Decatur had become acquainted prior to the war, and had 
learned to esteem each other most highly. When the two vessels came near 
enough to each other to be recognized, each commander felt at once that he 
had met his peer, and that the fight to folio 7/ would be a duel to the death. 

The " Macedonian " was an entirely new ship, having just been built 
and equipped at the Portsmouth navy-yard, whence she had sailed only two 
weeks previous. She mounted forty guns, consisting of thirty-eight carro- 
nades, a pivot-gun on the forecastle, and a smaller piece on the quarter-deck. 
She had 300 men aboard., a selected crew, all but twenty of whom were 
veteran and well-trained man-of-war's men. 

The fight took place off the Azores, about two hundred miles distant in 
a southwesterly direction. As has been said, the morning was bright and 
cool. The sea was fair, with a heavy swell running. The 
%^a™7ht 56 ca P tain of tlie " Macedonian," evidently not anticipating a 
call from his old friend, had concluded that for that day 
his men should enjoy a much-needed relaxation from the rigorous routine of 
drill and hard labor incident to Hfe on a man-of-war, and especially severe on 
board the " Macedonian," a new ship to which everybody was strange. He 
therefore gave orders that the members of the crew should be permitted to 
engage in sports and amuse themselves in such way as they chose, and, by 
his direction, they were given an extra allowance of grog. 

All went merrily for an hour or two. The men, released from the toil- 
some duties which for weeks had pressed upon them to the entire exclusion 
of everything like pleasure, entered upon the enjoyment of the occasion 
with the keenest zest. Fiddles were produced, and while in one part of the 
ship the nimble-footed tars were showing off their fancy steps in hornpipes 
and jigs, in another, groups surrounded the singers, who, to the accompani- 
ment of wheezy instruments, sang the rhymed legends of the glorious deeds 
of valor performed by the British hearts of oak. Apart from these sat the 
veteran salt, spinning the endless yarns of strange and moving incidents 
30 



466 



DECATUR, THE YANKEE TAR. 



that a life-time at sea had supplied. Here was one writing home to wife or 
sweetheart, there another conned laboriously the Bible his dear old mother 
had given him. Scattered about, the prudent and careful fellows, wonder- 
fully deft with big needles and coarse, yarn-like thread, repaired their cloth- 
ing. Some sought in sleep to repair the wear of the hard strain of the past 
fortnight of incessant labor, while some lounged about, pipe in mouth, en- 
joying the unsurpassable luxury of doing nothing, saying nothing and think- 
ing nothing. The frigate was spinning along under top-sails, top-gallant 
sails and courses. The day bade fair to be one of pleasant repose and com- 
fort to all, and there was no thought or presentiment of the awful scene so 
soon to present itself. 

In the meantime, on board the American ship everything was proceed- 
ing in the usual routine of the American man-of-war. The morning duties 
had all been performed ; the decks were white after a vigorous holy-stoning, 
the brasses had been cleaned, the guns carefully looked after, and everything 
was ship-shape. The gallant Decatur was never caught napping. His look- 
outs at the mast head knew too well the man they served with to relax for 
an instant the vigilance with which they scrutinized the great waste of water 
in every quarter, on the alert for the enemy. 

The serenity and repose on board the " Macedonian " was suddenly dis- 
turbed by a hail from the foretop mast-head : 

" Sail ho ! " 

Captain Carden sprang at once up the companion-way, leading from his 
cabin to the deck. 

" Can you make her out ? " 
" Can't make her out, sir ! " 

At once the scene was changed ! In the twinkling of an eye, every 
man was filled with excitement. The sound of the fiddling and dancing 
came to an abrupt close. The singer stopped half-way in 
his droning verse, the yarn-spinner dropped his story at alTsounds 
the most interesting point, the letter writer threw down of Merriment, 
his pen, the reader stuffed his Bible into the bosom of his 
loose shirt, and the sleeping man was in an instant broad awake, peering 
over the side for the strange sail. After a lapse of two or three minutes, 
Captain Carden again called out : 

" Mast-head there ! " 

"Ay, ay, sir ! " 

" Can you make out that sail ? " 
" She's a square-rigged vessel, sir ! " 

" Here, Mr, — — said the captain, summoning an officer to his side, 



DECATUR, THE YANKEE TAR. 



467 



"send a lookout to each mast-head, and an officer into the top, and keep a 
close eye on that fellow." 
" Ay, ay, sir." 

A moment later came a voice from aloft — 
" A frigate, sir, and bearing down upon us ! " 
" Can you make out his rig?" 
" He looks like a Yankee, sir !" 

That settled it ! Surrounded by his senior officers, the captain gave his 
orders promptly and comprehensively. Turning to his executive, he said 
quietly : 

" Clear ship for action, sir, and get the people to the guns !" 

Scarcely had the last word left his lips, when the shrill whistle of the 
boatswain summoned all hands to stations. Springing to their work with the 
greatest alacrity, the 300 nimble fellows swarmed all over the vessel, and in 
three minutes the bulkheads were knocked down, the preventer-braces 
reeved off, the rigging "swiftened down," boats made secure, boarding 
netting rigged, ladders unshipped, hammocks transformed into breast-works, 
and everything in shape for action. 

Be sure the American ship was no less well prepared. Decatur's look- 
out had sighted the " Macedonian " even before Captain Carden had been 
called from his cabin, and Decatur was on deck sweeping the horizon with 
his glass, impatiently seeking his antagonist. So soon as her whereabouts 
was located, he clapped on all sail, and staggering under her weight of can- 
vas, the " United States " bore rapidly down upon her. 

The long roll of the drum summoned the " Macedonian's " people to 
the guns. They were cool and skillful. Seasoned in a hundred fights, and 
filled with a belief in the invincibility of the British 

^GunsT Navy ' they had n ° doubt aS to the reSult * 0f a11 fi g htin g 
peoples on earth, the English at that day acknowledged 

no superiors, and especially none at sea. It was no child's play upon which 
the Americans were about to enter, and right well did Decatur know it. 
But the thought only spurred him on to greater haste, and inspired his cour- 
age to a loftier determination. 

At last he came within 2,000 yards of the" Macedonian," which, under 
foresail, fore, main and mizzen-top sails, main clew-garnets hauled up, royal 
yards in the rigging, and top-gallant sails furled, and with her jib, foretop- 
gallant staysail and spanker set, was eagerly closing in. Even when Captain 
Carden became satisfied that it was Decatur with whom he had to fight, he 
showed no hesitation although he became more wary. He passed calmly 
among his men, cheering them with words of encouragement 



468 



DECATUR, THE YANKEE TAR. 



At 1,500 yards, the "Macedonian" opened up with a shot or two from 
her pivot-gun forward, but they fell short, without damage. Decatur made 
no response, but pressed steadily on. Again the " Macedonian " essayed to 
bring matters to an issue, opening on the " United States " with three of her 
port guns. Being to windward, she had a great advantage in manoeuvring. 
The port guns also failed to reach. Impatiently, the two ships rushed closer 
together, till finally the distance was reduced to 1,000 yards. 

This was the time Decatur was waiting for. He knew that the decisive 
moment had arrived. At the lifting of his hand, his gun-deck battery opened 
up, and, following his instructions previously given, the shot ripped through 
the enemy's sails, his object being to cripple her at once. Simultaneously, 
the " Macedonian" opened up with every gun that could be 
brought to bear ; but without effect. Either the distance The Battle Opens, 
was still too great, or the marksmanship was bad. At 
all events Captain Carden, seeing that he was likely to be disabled before he 
could even injure his adversary, ordered the firing to cease, and bent all his 
energies to closing in on the " United States." 

At 500 yards, he opened fire again, and this time with some effect. But 
the fates were against him. From the moment Decatur's first gun opened, 
the fire from the " United States " was incessant and directed with rare skill. 
The " Macedonian's " mizzen-top mast went by the board, and the main mast 
was now the mark for Decatur's fire. The British marines were drawn up 
in the waist, and shots from the American guns were tearing great holes 
through them. Carden ordered them forward, and then distributed them 
about the vessel as sharpshooters. 

Decatur pounded away like a fiend. The " Macedonian's " main-top 
mast went down, and wreck clearers were called away. 

The scene at this moment was indescribable. Every available gun on 
each ship was hot from rapid and incessant firing. Broadside after broadside 
was poured into the oaken ribs of the noble vessels, which seemed like sentient 
things, and trembled and shook with the shock of the conflict. The very 
sunlight of heaven was obscured by the smoke. Splinters filled the air, the 
shrieks and groans of the wounded smote the ear with appalling significance, 
and the sharp, short orders of the officers, with the stern u ay, ay, sir," of 
the responses, came through set teeth, as the men breathed hard and set all 
upon the hazard of the fateful moment. 

Decatur, having pretty well destroyed the " Macedonian's " rigging, 
now directed his fire to the gun-deck of his enemy. Crash after crash, the 
volleys filled the air with booming thunder, as of a deafening summer 



DECATUR, THE YANKEE TAR. 



469 



storm. From the " Macedonian," survivors say, the American ship seemed 
to vomit forth solid masses of fiery flames. 

The havoc was frightful, and the slaughter on the " Macedonian " was 
sickening. One shot killed and wounded seven men. Another caught two 
powder-monkeys and dashed their bodies, mangled out of 
' 6 RedDecks° " a11 seinrjlan ce to human forms, into the carlins overhead. 

About the main-mast lay thirty marines, some dead, and 
some wounded and dying. The door of the cockpit was surrounded by the 
poor, mangled fellows, who lay about in heaps, their yells of pain ringing 
out even over the roar of battle. Everv sail on the " Macedonian " was eone 
but the foresail. She was almost utterly crippled, and yet, with the advant- 
age of wind and sea in her favor, she was still a most formidable 
antagonist. 

• Captain Carden maintained his post on the quarter deck, undismayed 
by the horrible slaughter of his men, and the destruction of his vessel. 
Feeling that he had but one chance to retrieve almost certain disaster, he 
gave orders to bring the " Macedonian " alongside, and every effort was made 
to accomplish this. 

Decatur saw the point as quickly as the commander of the " Mace- 
donian ' 5 did. He knew that it was to his advantage to keep his antagonist 
where he could pour his heavy volleys into her until she became helpless. 
But it took skill and seamanship to avoid the contact which favoring circum- 
stances seemed about to enable the British commander to bring about. 
Keeping up his tremendous cannonading, therefore, Decatur at last met his 
opportunity, and by an adroit manoeuvre, drove out of the smoke ahead, 
when the " Macedonian " was not more than a pistol shot away, then gave 
his order to destroy his adversary's foresail. A vigorous use of sections of 
chain and bags of bolts fired from his forward guns soon tore the canvas 
completely to pieces. Then, swinging around under her stern, he had the 
" Macedonian" completely at his mercy, and her flag was hauled down. 

Decatur sent Lieutenant Allen on board the " Macedonian " to take 
possession. When that officer arrived there he was fairly shocked, seasoned 
fighter as he was, at the dreadful sight that met his eyes. The decks were 
literally running with blood, and the dripping of the crimson fluid onto 
the gun-deck from the deck overhead, where the killed and wounded lay in 
piteous heaps, was like the falling of a ghastly rain. To keep the decks 
clear, the British had thrown at least twenty bodies overboard, some of them 
having been thrust through the port-holes, even before life had left their 
bodies. 



47o 



DECATUR, THE YANKEE TAR. 



The surgeons were busy in the cockpit, working with an earnestness and 
zeal that seemed almost inhuman. The amputation of a limb was a quick 
process. The cut was made with lightning-like quickness, 
the saw grated savagely through the bone, the flap was the Wou „ ded 
slapped back, and a coating of hot pitch was pressed upon 
the bleeding stump to sear the wound. 

Out of her 300 men the u Macedonian " had lost 112. The rigging and 
masts were almost utterly destroyed, and her hull had been riddled by more 
than 100 solid shot. 

The meeting of Decatur and Carden was a painful one to both of them, 
but it gave to the generosity and nobility of Decatur's character an oppor- 
tunity to display itself. As has been said, the two men were old friends. 
There was also a singularly marked resemblance between them, not only in 
form and features, but in their finer characteristics of heart and mind. 

The British captain, almost heart-broken over his defeat and the awful 
sufferings of his men, advanced toward Decatur, with his sword extended, 
handle first, in token of surrender, but uttering no word. With a grand 
impulse which nothing could restrain, Decatur waved the sword aside, and 
came impetuously forward, with both hands extended — 

" Captain Carden, I could never forgive myself if I took the sword from 
the hands of a man who has used it with the bravery and courage you have 
displayed. I decline to take it! " 

The "Macedonian" after two days' hard work, was rigged up with 
jurymasts, and, accompanied by the " United States," was taken to New 
London, under command of Lieutenant Allen. After having been thoroughly 
repaired, she was refitted as an American war-ship, and afterwards formed 
one of a squadron commanded by her valiant captor. 

Captain Carden, upon exchange, was tried and acquitted of all blame 
for having lost his ship, and remained for many years an ornament to the 
Royal Navy, and a steadfast friend to Stephen Decatur till the day of that 
noble man's untimely taking off. 



NINETY MEN AGAINST TWO THOUSAND 47 1 



90 MEN AGAINST 2,000. 

By Lieutenant R. H. Jayne. 

THERE'S no use of denying that we made a sorry exhibition with 
our land forces at the opening of the War of 1 812. It brings a 
blush to the cheek to recall the surrender of Detroit by the timid 
old General Hull ; the cowardice of the militia of New York at 
Niagara ; the abortive attempts at the invasion of Canada ; the humiliating 
capture and burning of Washington (relieved by the splendid valor of 
Commodore Barney and his marines at the Bladensburg bridge), and the 
general hurly-burly of the campaigns. These were not of a nature to cause 
a quickening of the pulse of an American, though often lit up by thrilling 
instances of bravery, ending in more than one magnificent victory, as the 
officers and the troops swung into place, and grasped, as may be said, the 
exigencies of the situation. 

But on the ocean, how we made things hum ! From the days of the 
old Vikings, a thousand years ago, down through the fierce conflicts between 
the nations of Europe on the high seas, and the tremen. 
Struggle* '" the ^ s bi ows struck by Paul Jones and the privateers in the 

Brave Days of Old J J r 

Revolution, no more stirring naval battles shook the deep 
and dyed the waves with crimson, than took place between our infant navy, 
in the War of 181 2, and the mighty fleets of Great Britain, the "mistress 
of the seas." 

We were caught unprepared. We had a few men-of-war, the number 
hardly worth mentioning, while the English navy numbered 1,036 vessels, 
of which 254 were ships-of-the-line, everyone carrying at least seventy guns 
of large calibre. She had thirty-five war vessels at the different stations on 
our coast, ready for action, the whole manned by a prodigious force of 
144,000 sailors. 

No wonder our government decided to make no contest against such 
overwhelming odds. Where would we have been but for the protest of 
those' grim sea-dogs, Bainbridge, Stewart and others ? They succeeded in 
gaining the consent of the Government that the privateers should have a 
chance, along with the few men-of-war, whose officers and crews were yearn- 
ing for an opportunity of measuring strength with the British cruisers. 

The exploits of the little American navy are familiar to every school- 
boy. They added imperishable lustre to our glory upon the ocean, and 
humbled the pride of Great Britian as never before. The first time that that 



472 



NINETY MEN AGAINST TWO THOUSAND. 



power ever surrendered an entire squadron to an enemy was on the ioth of 
September, 1814, when Commodore Barclay, with his arm shot off having 
lost the other in a previous engagement, ordered the white flag run up as 
token of submission to young Perry, the American, who had never seen a 
naval battle before, but who, at the close of his terrific engagement, sent the 
message to General Harrison : 

" We have met the enemy, and they are ours ; two ships, two brigs, one 
schooner, and one sloop." 

Baltimore furnished more privateers than any other port, but they 
sailed from New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Salem, by the dozen. 
Some of the most famous were fitted out in Charleston, Bristol and Ply- 
mouth. The majority were schooners, well armed, swift, and crowded with 
men, so as to furnish crews for the captured prizes. There were also brigs 
and brigantines, which were often so depleted, for the purpose named, that 
barely enough men were left to handle the original privateer. 

Captain Samuel C. Reid, of Connecticut, commanded the privateer brig 
" General Armstrong," whose armament consisted of nine long guns, the 
largest being a twenty-four-pounder, the others nine-pounders, or " long 
nines," as they were called, while in the usual position, on a pivot at the 
front, was the famous " Long Tom," so useful when pursuing an enemy. 

Good luck attended the " General Armstrong," which, setting out with 
several hundred men, captured prize after prize, and sent them home, until 
Captain Reid was left with a crew of only ninety. In the month of Sep- 
tember, 1 814, he put into the harbor of Fayal, one of the Azores, for the 
purpose of laying in provisions, of which he was running short. 

While he was leisurely engaged at this work, Captain Reid was surprised 
by the arrival of a British squadron for the same purpose. It was on its 
way to Jamaica to join Admiral Sir Thomas Cochrane's naval expedition 
against New Orleans. It consisted of the flagship " Plantagenet," of seventy- 
four guns, under Captain Robert Floyd ; the frigate " Rota," thirty-eight 
guns, under Captain Philip Somerville, and the brig " Carnation," eighteen 
guns, under Captain George Bentham. The destination and intended service 
of the squadron make it hardly necessary to state that the ships were all 
thoroughly equipped for action. They were manned by 2,000 men. 

The English squadron arrived at Fayal on the 25th of September. As 
soon as Captain Floyd recognized the terrible little Yankee privateer, he 
placed his ships so as to shut off her escape. Inasmuch as all the vessels 
were in the waters of a neutral power, Captain Reid doubted whether the 
enemy would attack him. But he was too wise to take any chances. 
He spread his nets and made ready for action. 



NINETY MEN AGAINST TWO THOUSAND. 



473 



A sharp watch was maintained through the night, but nothing took 
place. The next clay, however, several boats put out from the " Plantage- 
net," and headed for the privateer. In his subsequent report of the affair, 
Captain Floyd stated that he had no purpose of attacking the American, but 
he was engaged only on a reconnoissance. Captain Reid was not to be 
caught napping. The favorite method of attack in those days was by 
boarding, and such he believed was the intention of those boats. Accord- 
ingly, he hailed them and warned them to keep off. 

They paid no attention, but rowed straight for his ship. He repeated 
his warning until they were but a few rods away, when he let drive at them. 
Several were killed and wounded, and the astonished enemy concluded to 
terminate their reconnoissance then and there, the survivors returning to 
the flagship. 

Captain Reid knew that the most serious business was to come. So he 
swung his brig nearer shore, with springs on her cables, and held himself in 
readiness for the attack of his enemy. 

As night was closing in, a dozen or more boats were lowered from the 
British vessels, all filled with men and guns. Each boat carried a carronade 
in her bows and had a crew of thirty or forty men. The expedition was 
under the command of Lieutenant William Matterface, of the " Rota." 

Instead of making directly for the privateer, the boats sheltered them- 
selves for several hours behind some rocks near her, while the ,u Carnation," 
being light of draft, took position within shot of the privateer, so as to be 
ready in case she attempted to slip out to sea. 

The full moon was shining in an unclouded sky, so that objects could 
be seen for a short distance with the distinctness of daylight. It was almost 
midnight when the boats that had been sheltered behind 
Moonlit Waters t j ie roc k s j n t sight, and the splash of oars showed 

Splashed with & ' r 

Blood. that, the attack was to be made within the next few 

minutes. 

While still some way off, the enemy opened with her carronades, and 
the privateer replied with her long nines. Little if any damage, however, 
was done ; but the boats were coining fast, and the fight grew hotter and 
fiercer every moment. The Americans fired with deadly accuracy, sinking 
three of the craft before they reached the nets, and leaving the occupants 
drowning, swimming and struggling in the water. The English made 
determined and desperate attempts to board. They slashed and cut at the 
nets, and grasping them, drew their boats close against the side of the 
privateer, and strove to climb over the gunwales. 



474 



NINETY MEN AGAINST TWOL THOUSAND. 



Captain Reid, fighting like a tiger, repelled the attack at the starboard 
quarter, and then ran forward to the help of First Officer Frederic A. Worth, 
at the bow. He and his men were not a moment too soon, for the boarders 
were bearing down the defenders, as they clambered up the sides, shouting, 
" No quarter for the Yankees !" 

" No quarter !" roared back the Americans, blazing away with their 
pistols in the faces of the enemy, prodding them with pikes, meeting them 
hand to hand, and flinging them sprawling like so many frogs into the 
sea. 

The fight was of the fiercest character. Repeatedly the boarders were 
on the point of success, and more than once the Americans were compelled 
to yield ground. But it was only for a moment. Nothing is calculated to 
make a man fight harder than the certainty that it is his only chance for life, 
since surrender is out of the question. Under the inspira- 
tion of the captain and officers, who were everywhere, Th *" Arm f*' ong s 
r ' J ' Crew of Tigers. 

shooting, prodding, striking, wrestling with grim, fearless 

energy that seemed to know no fatigue, fear or abatement, the sailors 

proved themselves every one a hero. 

There could be but one ending to such heroism as this. Several boats 
filled and went to the bottom ; a half dozen, crowded with dead and dying, 
drifted ashore ; only two returned to the ships. 

The Americans had two killed and seven wounded. Captain Floyd 
admitted a loss of thirty-four killed and eighty-six wounded. It was double 
that. Lieutenant Matterface, the leader of the expedition, was among the 
killed. 

Naturally, Captain Floyd and his men were infuriated by the frightful 
repulse they had received at the hands of the Yankee privateer. He had 
already violated the law of nations in making his attack in neutral waters, 
and when the Fayal authorities sent him a request to stop fighting in their 
harbor, he angrily replied that he meant to have that privateer if he had to 
knock down the whole city, and that if the authorities allowed the Americans 
to destroy or harm the brig, he would treat Fayal as a hostile seaport. 

Captain Reid learned of this threat, and could not mistake its meaning. 
He sent his dead and wounded ashore, and told his men to leave their most 
valuable effects in the town, where, if they survived, they could recover 
them. That done, it may be said the " General Armstrong " was stripped 
for the fight. 

The brig " Carnation " opened the attack by approaching quite near, 
and pouring repeated broadsides into the privateer, whose replies, owing to 
her fewer and smaller guns, were so ineffective that the " Eong Tom " was 



NINETY MEN AGAINST TWO THOUSAND. 475 



appealed to again. Bang ! went one of the monstrous balls between wind 
and water ; another bit in two the foremast ; others crashed and splintered 
the rigging, until the wounded assailant was glad to limp off for repairs. 

But the privateer was doomed. She had made one of the bravest fights 
in all history, yet there is a limit to the possibilities of bravery. When 
Captain Reid saw the other two vessels approaching, he knew that a general 
attack would be made in the course of a few minutes. It was 2,000 men 
against ninety ; 130 guns against nine smaller ; three vessels against one not 
so large as the least. Fight in the face of such odds was without hope or 
excuse. 

Captain Reid determined the enemy should not capture his vessel, so he 
lowered his boats, scuttled the privateer, and then rowed for shore. The 
enraged English threatened to pursue him and his men, but the Americans 
hurried into a strong fortress, and Captain Reid challenged the British to 
attack him. They did not accept the challenge. 

The effect of this splendid exploit was more far reaching than would 
be supposed. The English squadron was so crippled by its rough usage, 
that it returned to England to refit. This so delayed the arrival, of Sir 
Thomas Cochrane's expedition at New Orleans, that he found on his arrival 
General Jackson was several days ahead of him. 

Captain Reid and his men received a characteristic reception when they 
returned to this country. From Savannah, where they first set foot on shore, 
it was one ovation all the way to New York. The Legis- 
An Ovation to the j f th t Stat presented Captain Reid with a sword, 

Gallant Reid. 1 . . r . ' 

and he was made a sailing-master 111 the navy. 

Captain Samuel C. Reid was not only a consummate seaman and 
daring fighter, but possessed of superior mental accomplishments. He 
invented the signal telegraph, which was put up at the Battery and Narrows, 
established the lightship off Sandy Hook, and numbered and regulated the 
pilot boats. He was the designer, also, of the present form of our flag, 
which retains the thirteen stripes, and adds a star for each new State. 

England was afterward compelled to apologize to Portugal for the act 
of Captain Floyd in attacking an American vessel in a neutral port belong- 
ing to Portugal. We were awarded an indemnity, but Louis Napoleon, to 
whose arbitration the matter was referred, reversed the award. 

The " Long Tom," which played such a prominent part in this fight, 
was recovered by the Portuguese, and mounted in the castle of San Juan, 
in Fayal. Some months ago, the king offered to return the gun to us. 
When received, it will be set up in Lafayette Square, Washington, opposite 
the White House 



476 



DEATH OF GENERAL WARREN. 



The song-writers of those days could not overlook such a thrilling 
theme as the fight of the " General Armstrong " with the British squadron. 
Here is the first verse of the poem by James Jeffrey Roche : 

" Tell the story to your sons, 
Of the gallant days of yore, 
When the brig of seven guns 
Fought the fleet of seven score, 
From the set of sun till morn, through the long September night — 
Ninety guns against two thousand, and the ninety won the fight, 
In the harbor'of Fayal, the Azore." 



DEATH OF GENERAL WARREN. 

By Epes S argent. 

ON THE day of that memorable engagement on Bunker Hill, General 
Joseph Warren, then in the prime of life, joined the American 
ranks as a volunteer. " Tell me where I can be the most useful," 
said he, addressing General Putnam. " Go to the redoubt," was 
the reply; "you will there be covered." "I came not to be covered," 
returned Warren ; u tell me where I will be in the most danger — tell me 
where the action will be the hottest." At the meeting of the Committee of 
Safety, previous to the battle, his friends earnestly strove to dissuade him 
from exposing his person. u I know there is danger," said Warren, " but 
who does not think it is sweet to die for his country?" When Colonel 
Prescott gave the order to 'retreat, Warren's desperate courage forbade him 
to obey. He lingered the last at the redoubt, and was slowly and reluc- 
tantly retreating, when a British officer called out to him to surrender.^ 
Warren proudly turned his face upon the foe, received a fatal shot in the 
forehead, and fell dead in the trenches. 

When the war-cry of liberty rang through the land, 
To arms sprang our fathers, the foe to withstand. 
On old Bunker Hill their intrenchments they rear, 
When the army is joined by a young volunteer. 

u Tempt not death! " cried his friends ; but he bade them good-bye, 
Saying, " Oh, it is sweet for our country to die ! " 
The tempest of battle now rages and swells, 
'Mid the thunder of cannon, the pealing of bells ; 



PATRIOTIC DEEDS OF AMERICAN WOMEN. 



477 



And a light, not of battle, illumes yonder spire — 
Scene of woe and destruction ; 'tis Charlestown on fire ! 
The young volunteer heedeth not that sad cry, 
But murmurs, " 'Tis sweet for our country to die ! " 
With trumpets and banners the foe draweth near ; 
A volley of musketry checks their career. 
With the dead and the dying- the hillside is strewn, 
And the shout thro' our line is : "The day is our own ! " 

" Not yet," cries the young volunteer, " do they fly; 

Stand firm ; it is sweet for our country to die ! " 

Now our powder is spent, and they rally again. 

" Retreat," says our chief, " since unarmed we remain ! " 

But the young volunteer lingers yet on the field, 

Reluctant to fly and disdaining to yield. 

A shot — ah, he falls ! but his life's latest sigh 

Is, " 'Tis sweet, oh, 'tis sweet for our country to die ! " 

And thus Warren fell. Happy death, noble fall, 

To perish for country at Liberty's call. 

Should the flag of invasion profane evermore 

The blue of our seas or the green of our shores, 

May the hearts of our people re-echo that cry, 

" 'Tis sweet, oh, 'tis sweet for our country to die ! " 



PATRIOTIC DEEDS OF AMERICAN WOMEN. 

\Y J. W. BUKL. 

WE are accustomed to speak, write and to read of the valorous exploits 
of our soldiers and sailors, the sons,of liberty and fathers of our 
independence, often mindless of the heroism and sacrifices of the 
no less noble and patriotic women of America, to whom, in a 
sense, our obligations are equally great. Not only have they endured the 
privations incident to a settlement of our country, and performed their part 
with marked fidelity, but instances are not few where they have exhibited a 
valor as conspicuous and effective as that with which our bravest defenders 
are credited, and performed deeds deserving of an imperishable fame, which 
to our shame, however, are not generally remembered. 



478 PATRIOTIC DEEDS OF AMERICAN WOMEN. 

Examples of female gallantry in the hour of National trial are many, 

but two that are specially great must suffice here for illustration of woman's 

strength of character, physical courage and devotion to 

country. The darkest period to American hopes during Women 

- , * . . , n - V Who Deserve 

the war of the Revolution was m the year 1778, when | mmorta | Fame. 

Washington was sorely beset by Sir Henry Clinton, with 
an army of 60,000 of the best equipped and most thoroughly drilled soldiers 
in the world at the time. Our entire army did not number more than 
30,000, though Congress had ordered its increase to 40,000 men ; such 
soldiers as Washington had, too, were poorly clad, badly fed, indifferently 
armed, almost without knowledge of military movements, and the country 
was in the most direful financial straits. A less resolute leader would have 
despaired under such ill conditions, but difficulties seemed rather to infuse 
Washington with a more dogged determination. 

It happened, through our good fortune, that in June an order was given 
to General Clinton by the British Government to transfer his troops, of some 
30,000, from Philadelphia to New York, but for want of a 
sufficient number of transports to carry this large force, Washington 

i / 1 Pursuit 

Clinton sent about 20,000 by water and then set out over- of ci mt0 n. 
land, through New Jersey, with the remainder. Washing- 
ton, a remarkable tactician as well as strategist, foresaw this action of the 
enemy and acted so promptly that scarcely had the main army of the 
British left Philadelphia when he, with his full force, crossed the Dela- 
ware, June 21, fifteen miles above Trenton, and began a vigorous pursuit of 
the British contingent. Washington was ably assisted by General Lafayette, 
who found the enemy encamped at Monmouth Court House, New Jersey, 
on the twenty-eighth. It was in the engagement that followed that Gene- 
ral Charles Lee, by a perfidious, if not treasonable act, came near betraying 
and causing the defeat and probably the destruction of the American 
Army. 

It was during the bloody engagement at Monmouth Court House, which 
resulted in a defeat of the British, that Moll Pitcher so distinguished herself 
as to gain immortal fame. There is some dispute as to her name', but the 
records seem to show that she was married to an artilleryman named 
McCauley, though history will hardly fail to preserve that of Moll Pitcher, 
which may have been her maiden patronymic. She appears to have been a 
sturdy camp-follower, twenty-two years of age, who had already won distinc- 
tion at Fort Clinton, where she is credited with having fired the last shot. 

The day the battle of Monmouth was fought was one of almost insuf- 
ferable heat, and Molly Pitcher made herself useful carrying water from a 



PATRIOTIC DEEDS OF AMERICAN WOMEN. 



spring to her husband and the others serving the fieldpieces. This ser- 
vice she performed, regardless of all danger, until her husband was killed, 

when, there being no one to take his place, the eun was 
of n Mon U pitchIr ^ ordere(i removed. At this supreme juncture, when the 

very fate of Washington's army seemed to hang in the 
balance, brave Moll Pitcher dropped her bucket and begged permission to 
take the place of her fallen husband. The need of using every gun was so 
great that her request was granted, and, with astonishing courage and indus- 
try, she acted as a gunner during the remainder of the fight. On the fol- 
lowing day, after Clinton's retreat, Moll Pitcher was presented to Washington, 
with report of her exploit, and as a mark of recognition of the value of her 
services she was made a lieutenant of artillery, and Congress voted her half- 
pay during life. 

In appearance Moll Pitcher is described as having been a stout, red- 
haired Irish woman, with freckled face and dark, piercing eyes. She lived 
in Carlisle, Pa. , after the close of the war, and over her grave in the cemetery 
of that town is a plain stone monument which bears the following 
inscription : 

MomE McCauuOY, 

Renowned in History as Molly Pitcher, 

Sacred to the The Heroine of Monmouth. 

Memory of 

a Heroine. Died J anuar y> l8 33> aged 79 years. 

Erected by the Citizens of Cumberland County, 
July 4, 1876. 

Another display of patriotic daring, scarcely less remarkable than that 
which made Moll Pitcher famous, was performed by Mary Doyle, wife of a 
private in the American artillery, at the bombardment of Fort Niagara by 
the British, November 21, 181 2. There is a singular coincidence in the 
name and situation of the two heroines, each being wife of an American 
artilleryman and each taking a husband's place, but in the case of Mary 
Doyle she acted from a slightly different impulse, her husband having been 
made a prisoner by the British at Queenstown, and she practically joined the 
army, or acted in his _stead, with the hope that thereby she might become an 
instrument to secure his liberation. 

The British, under General Dearborn, erected strong earthworks at Fort 
George, and when in readiness began a fierce bombardment of the American 
fort, Niagara, across the river. From morning till night they maintained 
a terrible f-e of shells and red-hot balls, throwing 180 of the former and 



4 8o THE' FIRST AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

2,000 of the latter during the day. The Americans were fewer in number 

and had not more than half the number of guns used by their assailants, but 

they fought with amazing firmness until their extremity 

became so great as to discourage further defence. When Mary D °y ,c » 
1 a • 1 • r • 11. 1 1 the Heroine of 

the Americans were upon the point of yielding hope, when Niagara. 

red-hot balls were setting fire to the barracks and causing 
the most fearful destruction, Mary Doyle came upon the scene, a very imper- 
sonation of the fierce spirit of war and valor. With eyes blazing and hair 
streaming she took her position beside an abandoned six-pounder, and with 
amazing endurance, loaded and fired it herself many times and then turned 
to serving red-hot balls, which she continued with such resolution that every 
fainting soldier was animated by her conduct and gained fresh spirit that 
enabled them finally to beat off the enemy. * 



THE FIRST AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 

By Mrs. N. S. Stoweix. 

HOW many people are there who know that in Louisiana, as far back 
as 1768, there was an attempt made to establish a republic upon 
the soil of North America, and that five citizens of New Orleans 
paid, for the attempt with their lives? Yet such is the fact, and 
the dusty records in the official archives at Madrid and Paris bear testimony 
,to their gallant, but fruitless, endeavor. 

It occurred shortly after France had ceded Louisiana to Spain. The 
helpless inhabitants disliked the transfer, but they were powerless to help 
themselves. Although the Spaniards formally accepted the gift in 1762, the 
Spanish Governor, Ulloa, did not arrive in Louisiana until four years after- 
ward. The colonists had made up their minds to dislike him, and they did 
so. He seems to have been a gay, good-humored, not very dishonest, ruler, 
who tried to suit his unruly subjects, and found that he had set himself an 
impossible task. They were scandalized because he married without the 
consent of " Father Dagobert," and hurt because he sent to Havana for a 
nurse for his child. Was not Louisiana able to furnish a good enough 
nurse? The colonists complained of his presence at New Orleans, but 
declared that he had insulted them when he stayed at Balize for eight 
months. They shut him and his wife out of society, and then accused them 
of haughty exclusiveness. A severe charge against him was that he made 



THE FIRST AMERICAN REVOLUTION. 



the inhabitants of New Orleans go six miles out of town in order to whip 
their slaves, because Madame Ulloa's nerves were disturbed by the shrieks 
of the victims of the lash. 

When he saw that the colonists had agreed to disagree with him in 
everything he gave up trying to please them, secluded himself and studied 
science, of which he was a devotee. Meanwhile the popular discontent grew 
apace. Several prominent citizens formed a plot to overthrow the Spanish 
authority and establish a republic under the protection of a British officer 
then commanding at Pensacola. 

On October 25, 1768, the crisis came. Armed bands occupied the streets 
of New Orleans. Ulloa fled to a frigate which lay off the city. The 
superior council met, expelled, in the style of more recent days, all the 
adherents of the other side, and adopted an address declaring that the colo- 
nists' allegiance was due to France, not to Spain. This was a blind, the real 
intent, as the archives of Paris show, was to establish a republic modeled 
after the Swiss government. Ulloa reported to Madrid : " One plan was to 
transform the colony into a republic under the protection of England, but, 
seeing that they could not obtain from her the assistance they wished for, 
they came to the determination to rise without it, and to trample under foot 
the orders of their sovereign." 

For several months the colonists were left to govern themselves. Then 
the future grew dark. France and England both refused their aid. Spain 
sent General O'Reilly, with twenty-four ships and over three thousand troops, 
to seize the rebellious colony. When the fleet came in sight, advancing up 

the Mississippi, one of the conspirators, Marquis , proclaimed the 

republic, but less than a hundred men responded to his call for troops. 
O'Reilly landed, undisturbed. Four days afterward the principal leaders 
were arrested. A month of torture and trial ended in the sentence of one 
of them to death. One had already been killed while trying to speak to his 
wife. The lack of a hangman saved the rest from the scaffold. They were 
shot on the morning of October 26, 1769 — the first martyrs to independence 
in America. 



31 



4*2 



THE STORY OF ANDREW JACKSON. 



THE STORY OF ANDREW JACKSON. 



One of the Most Heroic Characters of American History, and How 
He Won the Battle of New Orleans. 

By John Jacob Cushman. 

ANDREW JACKSON, seventh President of the United States, was 
born in a log cabin in Union County, South Carolina, March 15, 
l. 1767. His first graduation was from the "old field school," his 
second from the Revolutionary War, where he developed the hatred 
which found its vent in the battle of New Orleans, in 1815. 

He was an apprentice, a lawyer, an attorney for the State of North 
Carolina, served in Congress for that State, went to Tennessee and helped 
build up the region ; served as Senator when Jefferson was president of the 
Senate ; fought Indians and debtors alike ; was appointed judge in Tennes- 
see ; fought in the Creek war, the second war with Great Britain ; carried 
the punishment of Arbuthnot and the Florida Indians into Florida, and 
waged a little war of his own on Spanish territory ; returned, was honored ; 
was elected to the Presidency of the United States ; served two terms ; 
returned to a quiet life at the Hermitage, near Nashville, and died in 1845. 
Such, in brief, was the career of perhaps the most typical of Americans. 

"Old Hickory," as he was known affectionately, was a gay, careless, 
rollicking youth, penniless most of the time, fond of horses, racing, cock- 
fighting and mischief. The mischief, as well as the fondness for gaming, 
stayed with him to the end, but, like many other great men, he seemed to 
possess a dual nature, which one moment led him to froth at the mouth 
with anger, the next to consider tenderly the rights and woes of others. 
And it is this dual nature which makes the life of this pugnacious old 
warrior replete with choice gems of wit, humor, tenderness, wrath, justice. 

He came from a Scotch-Irish family. Parton, speaking of the charac- 
teristics of this combination, says : " They were a tenacious, pugnacious 
race ; honest, yet capable of dissimulation ; often angry, but most prudent 
when most furious ; endowed by nature with the gifts of extracting from 
every affair and every relation all the strife it can be made to yield ; at home 
and among dependents all tenderness and generosity; to opponents violent, 



THK STORY OF ANDREW JACKSON. 



483 



ungenerous, prone to believe the worst of them." This excellent description 
of the race describes Andrew Jackson as if it were a personal character 
delineation. 

In physique Jackson was about six feet tall, rather spare and delicate. 
He stooped slightly, and his face was seared with pain from his ill health ; 

scarred with the marks of innumerable battles, great rage 

Ph Manner and an( ^ * ron W ^*' H * S C ^ n was sc l uare > l° n g an d tapering ; 

his nose enormous ; his ears were large and his shaggy, 
sandy hair stood up from a massive forehead. He looked in this respect 
like a German musician. His head was extremely large. He wore a 7^ hat. 
His blue eyes were deep and brilliant. 

The trouble with Jackson seems to have been his lungs and his back. 
Several times it was thought he would die of pneumonia. Once his doctor 
returned from a short walk and found him up and ready to go out when he 
had left him but a few minutes before, as he thought, as good as dead. 
" You took too much stimulant," said the doctor, remonstrating. " Haven't 
touched your stimulant ! " he replied, disdainfully. "Read that!" handing 
the doctor a letter from Clay denouncing Jackson for his action in the Ar- 
buthnot case. That was all the stimulant the general needed. 

In the fall of 1803, Jackson— then a judge — was on his way from Nash- 
ville to Jonesboro, where he was about to hold court. A friend met him on 
the road and told him that a combination against him had 
His Lack of Fear, been formed, and he might expect to be mobbed when he 
arrived. Jackson was then sick with intermittent fever, 
which had so weakened him that he was scarcely able to sit on his horse. 
He spurred forward, however, and reached the town, but so exhausted that 
he could not dismount without help. Burning with fever he retired to his 
room in the tavern and lay down on a bed. A friend soon came in and 
said : " Judge, Colonel Harrison and a regiment of men are in front of the 
hotel to tar and feather you. Lock the door quickly." Instead of doing 
so Jackson threw the door wide opened and exclaimed : 

" Give my compliments to Colonel Harrison, and tell him my door is 
open to receive him and his regiment whenever they choose to wait upon 
me, and I hope the colonel's chivalry will induce him to lead his men, not 
follow them." 

Nothing more was heard of the colonel or his men. Judge Jackson got 
up from the fever and held his court as usual and without molestation. 

A distinguishing mark was a deep scar on his forehead. It was inflicted 
by a British officer in South Carolina when Jackson was a boy of thirteen. 
A squad of British took his family prisoners, and one of the officers asked 



4 8 4 



THE STORY OF ANDREW JACKSON. 



" Andy " to polish his shoes. He refused and was given the scar — but he 
didn't black the shoes, and he made it lively for that officer despite the 
difference in their ages. 

Jackson's enemies in his later career got Dickinson, a young lawyer in 
Nashville, who had the reputation of being the u best pistol shot in the 
world," to speak slightingly of Mrs. Jackson. This news was told to the 
general. Jackson for thirty-seven years had kept a pair of pistols in readi- 
ness for use on any one who ever spoke disrespectfully of his wife. He oiled 
the pistols and then demanded an explanation from Dickinson, who claimed 
that if he said anything disrespectful he must have been drunk, as he had 
no recollection of any such remarks. But the enemies fanned the flame and 
the remarks were repeated, resulting this time in the duel, which ended in a 
slightly different way from that originally intended by Dickinson, who was 
killed in the affair, though Jackson himself received a wound from which he 
suffered until his death. 

Jackson boarded when he first went to Tennessee with the Widow 
Donelson. Here he met the widow's daughter, Mrs. Rachel 
Robards. Mrs. Robards was taken with Jackson's gallantry. "Marriage! 
Mr. Robards became jealous and applied for a divorce. 
Jackson married Mrs. Robards at Natchez in 1791, although the divorce was 
not granted until 1793. Jackson was at fault in not taking more care to 
ascertain the non-existence of a divorce, but by forty years of honorable 
and devoted love he recompensed the blame which he had caused to be 
attached to her, and, from the day of her death in 1831 until his own spent 
some time each day in silent mourning and loyal reverence. They had no 
children. 

The War of 181 2 found Jackson at the Hermitage. Since 1801 he had 
been commander-in-chief of the Tennessee militia, but there had been no 
previous occasion for him to take the field. Eate in 181 2, after the disasters 
in the Northwest, it was feared the English might make an attempt on 
New Orleans. Jackson was ordered to Natchez at the head of 2,000 men. 

Armstrong, the new Secretary of War, stupidly instructed Jackson to 
disband his troops when it became evident that the British were not planning 
an expedition southward. Jackson got mad, marched his troops back en 
masse to Nashville, became an idol and won in this campaign the name 
u Old Hickory." 

The Creek war then followed, in which he showed such wonderful 
military capacity that he was made major-general in the regular army and 
was appointed to command the Department of the South. When at last the 
British did head toward the south Jackson started for the front. 



THE STORY OF ANDREW JACKSON. 



435 



On November 22, 1814, General Jackson left Mobile for New Orleans, 
where he arrived on December 1. It was known that a large British force 
was on its way to that city, and the importance of 
intrepidity at New defendin it could not be overrated. The troops 

Orleans. & r 

that were to invade it were flushed with the victories of 

Bladensburg and Washington. Citizens who should have defended the city 
were strongly suspected of disaffection. While a hostile army of tried veterans, 
strong in numbers, exact in discipline, confident of success, were advancing 
in front, the ill-regulated levies of militia who were to oppose them were 
surrounded by the timid, the doubtful and the treacherous. When Jackson 
reached New Orleans few thought it capable of defence ; in two days after, 
none thought it susceptible of being taken. But it was 'obvious to General 
Jackson that success depended on a prompt offensive movement, and an 
attack must be made on the invading army the moment they landed. 

" I am resolved," he wrote in answer to General Carroll, whose division 
had been delayed on its way to New Orleans, " feeble as my force is, to 
assail the enemy on his first landing and perish sooner than he shall reach 
the city." 

The execution of that determination is history. The British landed on 
the twenty-third, fifteen miles below New Orleans. The news reached Jack- 
son at 1 o'clock in the afternoon. The same evening he hurled his whole 
available force at them, lost seven wounded during the twenty-five minutes 
of the subsequent engagement, while of the enemy 700 were killed, 1,400 
were wounded and 500 made prisoners. 

The final and overwhelming defeat of the British took place in the 
battle of January 8, 181 5. Jackson's men fought behind a breastwork of 
cotton bales. The British lost in twenty-five minutes 
H ° wth * British 2,600 killed and wounded. Pakenham was among the 

Were Beaten. ' ? 

slain. Jackson's loss was eight killed and thirteen 

wounded. Peace had already been signed at Ghent, but the news, of course, 
had not yet arrived. 

A fact showing the confidence of the British is that when they invaded 
Mississippi they brought with them territorial and civil authorities prepared 
to take charge of the government. 

Once an old aristocrat called upon Jackson to exempt him from military 
service. " I am lame," he said in explanation. "Can't you run?" asked 
the General. u No; I can hardly walk," was the reply. 

" Well, I wish to God all my men were in the same fix," the General 
quickly replied, and, turning to the quartermaster, said : " Give him a gun." 



4 86 THE STORY OF ANDREW JACKSON. 

An assassin confronted him in the Capitol with a double-barrelled pistol 
as he was making his way out of a funeral gathering. After one barrel 
had been snapped within ten feet of his face and the other was pointed at 
him, Jackson advanced upon the madman with uplifted cane, and would 
have struck him but for the interference of friends. He was never taken 
by suprise ; he never counted odds. 

U I doubt," says an old friend of his, "if ever a man lived of such 
immovable nerve, who was so unconscious of personal danger, so wholly 
forgetful of himself and his perils." An incident illustrative of this hap- 
pened one afternoon during his presidency. An exasperated mob sur- 
rounded the President's house and threatened his life. The marshal 
offered him a score of constables ; the military and naval officers 
volunteered to guard him ; the members of his Cabinet and other friends 
desired to watch with him in his house. He declined all these offers. Toward 
evening he collected two or three guns, and with only his nephew and a 
servant in the house went to sleep " as quietly," says one who witnessed the 
affair, " as an infant in his cradle." 

L,ouis Phillippe, during the war of the Revolution, contracted a debt 
with the United States. This obligation he had refused to meet and it was 
still uncanceled when Jackson entered the Presidential office. He sent over 
a Minister and got a note for the amount. When the note came due L,ouis 
allowed it to go to protest. Jackson got mad. 

The French Minister to Washington at that time was a little chap, who 
had married the daughter of Colonel William B. Lewis, a warm friend of 
Jackson. He went over to the President's house the day 
the note was protested and found him raging like one mad. A Anger ° f 

" I will get one of the biggest ships we've got," Jack- 
son said, " and go and see Iyouis Phillippe. He owes the United States 
money and I'll go and collect it myself," and he stormed worse than ever. 
The Frenchman was very much alarmed. He took his brother-in-law, Mr. 
Joseph Peyton, out of the room and asked with anxiety : " What is it zat ze 
President wants ? Does he want ze Congress to make him one grand high 
sheriff to go across ze ocean and collect ze money from my master, ze king ?" 

" That's it exactly," Colonel Peyton replied, " and he'll make the 
damnedest sheriff you ever saw. If he goes over there after that money you 
may bet he'll have it before he leaves." The Frenchman thoughtfully 
scratched his head and in a tone of amazement found voice to utter, " Ain't 
he one remarkable man?" 

In 1844 a very panicky neighbor of General Jackson visited the Hermi- 
tage one day about the time that the trouble with Mexico was brewing. 



THE STORY OF ANDREW JACKSON. 



487 



" The Mexicans are the most stubborn race in the world," excitedly- 
remarked the visitor, " and if we get into a war with them I am afraid it will 
last forty or fifty years." 

" Give yourself no uneasiness about that," calmly replied the General ; 
"I can go to Sumner County, raise 2,000 volunteers and run every Mexican 
into the Pacific Ocean in six months." The panicky man's nervousness 
seemed to be almost entirely allayed by this expression of confidence. 

At Clover Bend a mob got after Patton Anderson, who was a warm 
friend of the general. They were determined on taking his life. Anderson 
had retreated and entered the yard, with the mob in close pursuit. Jackson 
intercepted the angry crow T d, and with an explanation of warning threw his 
hand to his hip pocket, and withdrawing a spectacle case opened it with a 
snap which could be distinctly heard some distance. 

" By the eternal God," he shouted, " the first man that puts his foot on 
this step is a dead man ! " This effectually checked the mob. " I had no 
pistol," said Jackson to an intimated friend afterward, "but the snap of the 
spectacle case deceived them." 

" The corporations and wealthy individuals who are engaged in manu- 
facturing establishments desire a high tariff to increase their gains. 

Designing politicians will support it to conciliate their 
Jackson s favor and to obtain the means for profuse expenditure for 

Farewell Address. x m x 

the purpose of purchasing influence in other quarters. 
Do not allow yourselves, my fellow-citizens, to be misled in this subject. It 
is a system of injustice, and, if persisted in, will lead to corruption and must 
end in ruin." 

The counsel which Jackson gave in his farewell address exhibits his 
lofty patriotism no more than his wise statesmanship. Among other impres- 
sive observations he said : " In presenting to you, my fellow-citizens, these 
parting counsels, I have brought before you the leading principles upon 
which I have endeavored to administer the government in the high office 

with which you have twice honored me Our growth has been 

rapid beyond all former example in numbers, in wealth, .... and 
there have never been .... millions of people associated in one 
body who have enjoyed so much freedom and happiness as the people of the 
United States. You have no longer any cause to fear danger from abroad ; 
your strength and power are well known throughout the civilized world, as 
well as the high and gallant bearing of your sons. It is from within, 
among yourselves — from cupidity, from disappointed ambition and inordi- 
nate thirst of power — that factions will be formed and liberty endangered. 
It is against such designs that you have especially to guard yourselves. 



j88 



SERIOUS BATTLE WITH THE FILIPINOS. 



" My own race is nearly run. Advanced age and failing health warn 
me that before long I must pass beyond the reach of human events and 
cease to feel the vicissitudes of human affairs. I thank God that my life has 
been spent in a land of liberty, and that He has given me a heart to love my 
country with the affection of a son." 



OUR MOST SERIOUS BATTLES WITH THE FILIPINOS. 

THAT our government entered upon a grave undertaking, which, 
though great in the beginning, has assumed a more serious aspect 
than could be foreseen, was clearly proved by events directly fol- 
lowing conclusion of the peace treaty with Spain. The Filipinos 
quickly manifested their intention to form an independent government, and 
when Aguinaldo's request of the United States to make a declaration of 
purpose respecting the acknowledgment of a Filipino republic was refused, 
that ambitious leader took the offensive. by preparing to continue the strug- 
gle for independence which the conclusion of our war with Spain had inter- 
rupted. In an earlier article to be found in this work, description is given 
of the battle precipitated by the Filipinos on the night of February 4, 
and of the capture of Iloilo and the engagements near Manila to February 
10, resulting in a defeat of the insurgents at Caloocan and Malate. These 
conflicts were believed, for a wdiile, to have so discouraged Aguinaldo that 
he was well disposed to treat for peace, and overtures to this end were 
actually made, but General Otis refused to consider any terms except such 
as provided for an unconditional surrender of all the insurgents, and their 
unqualified submission to the dictates of the United States government. 

Aguinaldo, as has been previously shown, is a man of unbounded 
ambition ; who having risen to not only the position of leadership, but to the 
presidency of the newly organized Filipino republic, was 
unwilling to descend from the high estate which he had Aguinaldo 

, , , r s - , Encourages His 

gamed by the fortunes of war, and elected to continue a p eoplc to Fight. 

war for independence against the United States, hopeless 
as it appeared, rather than relinquish the power he had achieved, which to 
him was the pearl of great price. Resolutely therefore he reformed his 
shattered ranks, and set all the machinery of his influence in motion to stir 
up and encourage the several tribes of the archipelago to wage war against 
the American army of invasion. So well did he succeed that insurrections 
followed in the islands of Mindanao, Panay and Cebu, and all the tribes in 



SERIOUS BATTl.E WITH THE FILIPINOS. 



489 



Luzon acknowledged allegiance to him, and flocked to the support of his 
banner. 

There was almost constant skirmishing after February 10, but the 
Filipinos always retired before the Americans, endeavoring to lure their 
enemies into the interior, beyond the range of Admiral Dewey's fleet, and to 
points where it would be most difficult for our army to manoeuvre effectively. 
It was not. therefore until Saturday, March 25, 1899, that a movement was 
made to engage the Filipinos, the main army of which was known to be 
concentrated in the vicinity of Polo, twenty miles north of Manila, and 
supposed to be 25,000 strong, by which position they were able to guard the 
approach to Malolos, the Filipinos Capital. The movement of our troops 
was begun by General MacArthur advancing with two brigades towards 
Novaliches, which is twenty-five miles northeast of Manila, and then 
swinging to the left to strike Polo from the north. Wheaton's brigade, which 
lay in front of Caloocan, pressed forward at the same time, and Hall's 
brigade on the old line north of Pasig made a demonstration towards the 
left. The enemy in our immediate front was estimated to be 12,000 strong, 
with a reserve of as many more, while east of Pasig there was a force of 
5,000, which had to be reckoned with, the line being thus a semi-circle with 
a radius of twenty miles and a sweep of fifty miles. 

The troops engaged were the Third Artillery, as infantry ; the Montana, 
Kansas, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota, Min- 
nesota and Oregon volunteers; the Third, Fourth, Seven- 
o unteers an teenth and Twenty-second regulars; the Utah Artillery 

Regulars Engaged. . 

battalion and Twenty-third regulars. 

The Nebraska and Colorado volunteer regiments encountered the first 
strong resistance. This was at San Francisco del Monte, four miles from 
Manila, and in the surrounding trenches. The cavalry outflanked the 
enemy, who broke and ran, suffering a severe loss, but they directly 
reformed and made a stubborn stand in the woods north of the Laloma Church. 

General MacArthur's division, composed of General Harrison Gray 
Otis' brigade on the left, made up of the Third Artillery and the Twentieth 
Kansas and First Montana regiments, and General Hale's brigade, which 
included the First South Dakota, Tenth Pennsylvania and First Nebraska 
regiments, led theadvance. As this force moved forward beyond the trenches 
that had been deserted by the Filipinos, the reserves occupied the trenches, 
prepared to advance when their services might be needed. The reserve force 
was made up of General Wheaton's command, composed of the Second 
Oregon Regiment and the Twenty-second and Third Infantry, and General 
Hall's brigade, which included the Fourth Infantry, two battalions of the 



490 SERIOUS BATTLE WITH THE FILIPINOS. 



Seventeenth Infantry and the Thirteenth Minnesota and First Wyoming 
regiments. 

General Mac Arthur advanced to the eastward, encountering sharp and 

immediate opposition from the Filipinos, who were massed in considerable 

force in that direction and poured a heavy small-arm fire 

upon the Americans. General Hale quickly extending his A stubborn Resist- 
r ^ • » •11 1 -i 1 r • r ancc by the Enemy. 

front, Otis 7 artillery rushed to the firing line two guns oi 

the Utah battery of light artillery under Lieutenant Nay lor, two guns of the 
Sixth Artillery under Lieutenant Flemming and a Colt automatic field gun 
in command of Ensign Davis. 

While the artillery vigorously shelled the village of Masambong, the 
infantry charged across the level open fields in utter disregard of the terrible 
volleying of the insurgents, and with a great cheer carried the trenches, 
driving the enemy from them in disorder. The Filipinos gave ground 
stubbornly, but they could not withstand the impetuous rushes of the United 
States troops, which continually advanced in the face of the most galling 
fire. They stood the assaults for a time, but the relentless oncoming of the 
Americans was demoralizing ; they could not understand such deadly, 
earnest work, and at last they fell back. 

After carrying the trenches the Americans swung to the northward, 
capturing in splendid style the fortified towns of Balintauac, Baeza and 
Cathuhan, and finally driving the enemy before them through the swamps 
bordering the Juliaha River toward the town of Novaliches. The rough 
character of the country, with its dense undergrowth, and the determined 
resistance of the enemy, prevented further advance in this direction, and the 
line swung to the left along the river. 

General Wheaton began operations from Caloocan, which is seven miles 

due north of Manila. He was met with a heavy fire from 

Malabon, about a mile to the west and slightly north of ^ehting fn the 

' . Malabon Trenches. 

Caloocan, and from the trenches directly in front, where 

the enemy were stationed in large numbers. 

At 8.30 o'clock the Twenty-second regulars advanced with the purpose 
of forming connection between Colonel Egbert's regiment on the right and 
the Third Artillery, which formed the left of General MacArthur's division. 
The attempt was a daring one, and was pluckily maintained under a galling 
fire, but the end was failure, which left a gap of a mile on the extreme left 
of the American line. 

The Oregon xegiment advanced almost to the confines of the town of 
Malabon, thus receiving the heaviest fire of any of the United States troops 
who were engaged. The natives fought like demons, at times actually 



SERIOUS BATTLE WITH THE FILIPINOS. 



491 



leaving their trenches and with reckless bravery charging the Oregon 
regiment. It was only by the most magnificent fighting on the part of the 
latter and their utter disregard of the incessant volleying of Aguinaldo's 
followers that they were enabled to hold their ground. In this engagement 
they lost eight killed and twenty-three wounded. 

The position of the Oregon men was still a most trying one when they 
were reinforced by a battalion of the Third Infantry in command of Captain 
Cook. With the arrival of reinforcements the assault was renewed with 
spirit and the enemy was soon compelled to yield. The Filipinos retreated 
upon Malabon helter-skelter, the Americans pursuing them clear into the 
streets of the town and inflicting great loss. The Oregon regiment and the 
Third Artillery suffered the heaviest loss on the American side, the latter 
being particularly exposed in storming a strong earth fort, which they car- 
ried at the point of the bayonet. 

The Montana and Kansas troops met the hottest resistance in a strip 
from which the rebels had greatly worried the Americans recently during 
the night time. Ninety minutes after the start — at six 
Fierce Resistance o'clock — the whole front for a distance of three miles to 

to Montana and ^ e north had been cleared. General Hale's brigade had 
Kansas Troops. . . . 

simultaneously swept in a northwesterly direction, routing 

the enemy and burning the town of San Francisco del Monte and a number 
of scattered huts. The line was then opposite Novaliches, the artillery 
advancing along a good road from Laloma, to Novaliches, the wagons, carry- 
ing pontoons, telegraph supplies and ammunition, following. The infantry 
moved in splendid order. Smoke from the burning huts marked the line of 
the American advance. Ambulances and horse litters, led by Chinese, 
brought in the wounded, among whom were a few Filipinos. 

A strong opposition was offered by the enemy that made a stand 
between Malabon and the river Tuliahan, where, being well protected by 
the woods, they held their fire until General Wheaton's troops had approached 
within 200 yards, when a murderous volley was delivered that did frightful 
execution. Our soldiers never faltered, however, and charged the brush so 
resolutely that the Filipinos retreated in disorder, dividing up, after the 
manner of Indians, so that they could not be successfully pursued. The 
heat was overpowering during the whole of the engagement, and so many 
prostrations occurred that the army was seriously incommoded. 

The fighting continued throughout Sunday and nearly all of Monday, 
always to the advantage of the Americans, but without decisive results. 
Aguinaldo is said to have personally commanded his army and to have acted 
with great skill and courage, for though defeated at every point where a stand 



492 SERIOUS BATTLE WITH THE FILIPINOS. 



was made, he prevented a disastrous rout and succeeded in drawing off his 
forces towards Malolos without having sustained great damage. The losses on 
both sides were severe, that of the enemy being estimated at 500 killed and 
1,000 wounded, besides 100 prisoners taken. This estimate, it may be admit- 
ted, is no better than a guess, but our own losses prove the courage and effect- 
ive fighting qualities of the Filipinos, and that to conquer them will require 
the expenditure of a large amount of blood and treasure. The number of 
killed on our side in the two days' engagement was approximately forty, 
and there were 207 wounded. Among the former was Colonel Harry C. 
Egbert, of the Twenty-second Infantry of Regulars. He was shot in the 
abdomen while leading a bayonet charge, and fell from his horse. General 
Wheaton saw him fall and went immediately to his aid. He was laid upon 
a litter and carried to the rear, but died before reaching a hospital. Colonel 
Egbert was a second lieutenant in the Twelfth United States Infantry during 
the civil war, and was twice taken prisoner, being confined some time in 
Libby prison. After the war he remained in the army and was made major 
of the Seventeenth Infantry, afterwards being promoted to lieutenant-colonel 
of the Sixth Infantry. He was with General Shafter's army in the cam- 
paign against Santiago, and succeeded Charles A. Wyckoff as colonel of the 
Twenty-second Infantry after that brave officer was killed at San Juan Hill. 
He was wounded soon after, but recovered in time to accompany his regi- 
ment when it sailed for Manila February 1, arriving March 4. 

Lieutenant Maurice G. Krayenbuhl, commissary of subsistence, with 
the rank of captain in the volunteer service, was also mortally wounded. 
He had distinguished himself by specially valorous action in the battle of 
Malate, fought with the Spanish July 31, 1898, where he is credited with 
having saved from panic the first platoon of Battery K, Third United States 
Artillery, serving as Infantry. In the same engagement Adjutant Jonas H. 
Lien and Lieutenants Frank H. Adams and Sidney E. Morrison were killed 
while heroically advancing in front of the line. 

There was a lull in the fighting on March 27 because the retreating 
Filipinos crossed the Bulican river and burned the bridges so as to stop the 
advance of their pursuers until the pontoon corps provided means for crossing 
the stream. On the following day, however, a passage was made and the 
fighting was renewed before Marialo where the Filipino armv made a stand 
in the open and a sharp conflict took place. The enemy was commanded 
by four generals, viz : Aguinaldo as generalissimo, and Garcia, Torres 
and Pacheco, who boldly advanced to meet the Americans under MacArthur, 
consisting of the Nebraska, South Dakota, and Tenth Pennsylvania on the 
right. The Kansas regiment, the Third Regular Artillery, and the Montana 



SERIOUS BATTLE WITH THE FILIPINOS. 



493 



regiment on the left. Brigadier-Generals Hale and H. G. Otis were in 

command of their respective brigades, General Hale on the right and General 

Otis on the left. Following the formation that General 

Renewal of the MacArthur observed during his march to the northward, 
Fighting. fe . 

General Wheaton's brigade was in reserve, guarding the 

railroad. As the Filipinos advanced for the first time in battle order, our line 
reserved its fire until the enemy was well within four hundred yards. Then 
the command to fire was given all along the American front. There was a 
roar from field artillery and a shriek from rifles. Immediately the Filipino 
line was broken, and the soldiers of Aguinaldo began to retreat in confusion. 
The soldiers of our advance could plainly see the insurgent officers trying to 
stop the flight of the men under their command, but no control obtained 
against the advance of our soldiers, and soon the plain was clear for our 
force to cross. 

Prisoners who were taken in the engagement declared that the officers stood 
behind the Filipino soldiers with whips instead of swords, and lashed the 
unwilling men to force them to hold their positions, a declaration which was 
supported by the appearance of marks found upon the bodies of Filipinos 
that were killed in the trenches. Aguinaldo employed, according to the 
relation of the prisoners, even more potent discouragers of hesitancy than 
the whip, for it is claimed that he daily executed sentence of death, summarily 
imposed upon men in his force who refused to further fight and those taken 
who fled from his camp. 

In the stand made on the field four of our men were killed and about 
thirty-five were wounded. Of the killed two were members of the First 
Montana, one was a member of the First Nebraska and one was a member 
of the Tenth Pennsylvania. Among the wounded was an officer of the 
Kansas regiment. 

Thenceforward our troops had little opposition. The Filipinos retreated 
in the general direction of Malolos. In their retreat they tore up sections of 
the railroad to harass movement of our supplies and burned the small villages. 

We had expected stern resistance at Bocave, having been informed of 
concentration there of Filipino troops after the fall of Marilao. Aguinaldo 
evidently was not inclined to repeat his experiment of the 

^ma^Opposufon 8 P lans north - of Marilao > for MacArthur found no foe at 
Bocave, and entered the town without opposition, the 
artillery crossing the bridge. After a halt at Bocave ,to rest the men, the 
advance was resumed, and later m the day our army marched into Bigaa 
without having to fight their way across the river at that town. The 
Filipinos had set fire to the bridge at Bigaa, but the damage was slight. 



494 



SERIOUS BATTLE WITH THE FILIPINOS. 



Along the line of march were many unfinished trenches, indicating 
that the insurgent leaders were not prepared for the speed of our troops 
Evidently the Filipinos had relied upon halting MacArthur at the Marilao 
River. Failing there, they tried on the plain north of Marilao. Again the 
resistance was futile, and they retreated in disorder beyond Bocave, passing 
to the westward from Bocave and halting east of Bulacan. Bulacan lies 
westward of Bocave and Bigaa is a little north of the latter ; after the capitu- 
lation of these places, our army pushed ahead steadily towards Malalos, 
expecting the enemy to make a final stand in defence of their capital. 

MacArthur's advance towards Malolos was continuous, except when 
interrupted by streams which it was necessary to bridge by the pontoon 
corps. But his progress was not by peaceful inarches, for 
the Filipinos harrassed the flanks of his lines and several . Capturc °J the 

x Insurgent Capital. 

times made a stand that was broken only by fierce charges 
of our determined troops. On March 30, MacArthur crossed the Guiguinto 
River, and rested a few hours in the jungle less than three miles from Malolos; 
when the army began their movement again, along the railway, the enemy 
was encountered, in considerable force, intrenched on the border of the 
woods on the right of the track. As the Americans were in the open they 
suffered from a galling fire poured into them by the concealed enemy, which 
killed four and wounded thirty of the Nebraska regiment, and a slight loss 
was also sustained by the Dakota and Pennsylvania regiments. After sharp 
fighting for half an hour the Filipinos were driven from their first intrench- 
ments, and retired to two other lines, which, however, they held for only a 
few minutes, when they broke into a precipitate retreat towards their capital. 
General MacArthur and his staff were walking abreast of the advance, and 
were fired upon by sharpshooters hidden in the trees and houses, a shower 
of bullets falling about them, but without damage. 

Mariguina, a small village, was taken before the close of the day, and 
after a rest of ten hours the victorious advance was resumed, about three o'clock 
on the morning of March 31, receiving a heavy fire from the right, but 
halted a mile and a half from Malolos where our lines were formed for a 
final charge across the open country as follows : Third United. States Artil- 
lary, Montana Volunteers, Kansas Volunteers, Tenth Pennsylvania, South 
Dakota Volunteers, Nebraska Volunteers, Fourth United States Cavalry. 

There was great deliberation in the action of General MacArthur, who 
felt that the situation was sufficiently secure to allow of some indulgence to 
his tired but enthusiastic army. A good breakfast was partaken of just before 
daylight without any signs of hurriedness, and when the men declared them- 
. themselves properly refreshed the line formations were perfected and at six 



SERIOUS BATTLE WITH THE FILIPINOS. 495 



o'clock the charge was sounded. The fight which followed was far from a 
bloodless one, for the Filipinos offered a stubborn resistance for nearly two 
hours, but failed to stop the advance. The Americans 
A In thc C Strccts g,e dashed mto the city and then the battle raged in the 
streets, and from house to house, sometimes hand-to-hand, 
until the place broke into flames, set on fire by the Filipinos, when the 
enemy retreated northward leaving their burning capital, in our possession. 
In this desperate engagement our losses were three killed and fifteen 
wounded, and the casualties of the 2iiemy were considerably greater. 

The Filipinos left only smoking ruins to mark their line of retreat, 
for from the time they evacuated Bulucan, they applied the torch to all villages 
and country houses, and at Bocave they murdered twenty Chinamen who pro- 
tested against the destruction of their property as aliens. The retreating 
army was accompanied by great numbers of women, children, and other non- 
combatants, and large bodies of Spanish "prisoners were driven along in front 
of the fleeing columns, the Filipinos being careful to prevent their escape, 
reckoning that a large ransom may be offered for their release, or that 
better terms of peace may be arranged upon the conditions of setting them 
at liberty. 

Aguinaldo's capital was captured before 9 o'clock a. m., of March 31st, 
but few houses were saved from the conflagration, and the insurgent chief- 
tain contrived to not only make his escape but to bring 
Inevitable ^ °^ ncSir h T tne whole of his army, where it will probably 
scatter among the mountains in small bands and harrass 
our troops and the country by predatory excursions and sharp dashes. A 
guerrilla warfare must now follow, with a prospect of long continuance 
unless some fortune shall depose Aguinaldo, who is the head and heart of 
the insurrection. 

While Mac Arthur was operating against Malolos General Hall's brigade 
advanced from Mariquina up the Mateo valley to a point near Montalban, 
the enemy retreating without offering resistance until at the junction of the 
Nanca and Ampit rivers with the Mateo where a stand was made and some 
sharp fighting took place. The insurg ^ts exhibited great courage until our 
artillery was brought into action which struck terror into their ranks and 
caused them to break into a pell-mell rout, leaving many of their dead and 
wounded on the field. To General Hall the credit must also be given of 
having driven the enemy from Mariquina, and of chasing 2,000 Filipinos 
into the hill country where it was not practicable to follow them at once. 

It would be idle to deny that the commanders of our forces in the 
Philippines have had many anxious moments, or that the resistance of the 



49* SERIOUS BATTLE WITH THE FILIPINOS. 



Filipinos has been unexpectedly stubborn. The righting quality of the 
Tagal insurgents has been proven to be clever, courageous, and unremitting, 
and the advantages which we have gained have been due to the discipline, 
determination, and control exerted against a wily foe, intrenched in and 
supported by a fayorable field of action and inspired by a mistaken idea as 
to his fate in the case of defeat or capture. 

The startling phase of the campaign was the forced abandonment of 
our declared plan. The original intention of General Otis was to take the 
initiative with two divisions. The first, under General L,awton, was depended 
upon to hold in check the force south of Manila, about Pasig, and his contin- 




MAP OF THE COUNTRY THROUGH WHICH THE EIIJPINO INSURGENTS WERE DRIVEN BY THE 

AMERICAN TROOPS. 



ued belief in the success of this strategy is demonstrated in a despatch where 
it is asserted that the movements of this southern enemy are giving him no 
concern — because " Lawton will look out for them." 

The second disposition of the army was to be an advance by General 
Mac Arthur's division northward and westward, one-half of the force attack- 



SERIOUS BATTLE WITH THE FILIPINOS. 



497 



ing the insurgents to the south and the other closing its retreat to the north. 
It was hoped that this taking " in reverse " would be the resultant of a sur- 
prise, but unfortunately the Filipinos at Malabon escaped before the lines 
were drawn. This demanded a readjustment of the initial theory, and Gen- 
eral Otis was compelled to consolidate both attacking columns and direct 
them for a united assault upon the insurgent stronghold and capital at 
Malolos. 

The topography of the tropical country assailed offers a difficult problem 

to the attack. It is thickly wooded and bushed ; many small creeks traverse 

it on their way to the bay ; the roads are impassable for 

Serious light artillery and scouting or quickly manoeuvring cavalry : 
Impediments t . 

Encountered. ambuscades await at every turn, and, owing to the nature 

of the soil and woods and undergrowth, intrenchments can 

easily be thrown up without the implements or the skill demanded in 

ordinary military engineering. 

These impediments made our progress slow, though it is comforting to 
know that in less than three days' fighting our troops forced the enemy to 
retire fifteen miles, and were able without serious loss to advance our main 
army nearly ten miles. The strategy therefore resolved itself into a stolid, 
determined advance of our troops upon a slow and dogged retreat of the 
enemy, the objective point being Malolos — twenty miles north of Manila. 

Admiral Dewey had disposed his vessels so as to cover the water flanks 
of the troops, and in a position where his ships could be called upon at any 
time to transport brigades to a point north of Malolos, where an attack upon 
the rear was expected to decide the day. An army flotilla was in the mean- 
time patrolling the Laguna to the southward of Manila, to hold in check the 
insurgents of that district. 

Tragic Incidents Connected with the Capture of Malolos. 

The last stronghold of the Filipino insurgents fell before ten o'clock 
Friday morning, March 31, and the shattered army of Aguinaldo, thought to 
be five thousand strong, and the administration, with all its official impedi- 
menta, seals, banners, insignia, throne, and family, hurried away to the north- 
east in a most undignified retreat. There were some comical scenes enacted 
during the rout but the incidents connected with the assault and evacuation 
were chiefly tragic. The sight that broke upon the vision of MacArthur's 
advancing columns', as they approached Malolos, was beautiful, and to the 
victorious troops it - was inspiriting. The morning was clear, with a sunlight 
that made the rich vegetation appear in glorious colors, while across the 
intervening low-lands towards the sea there was an ineffable calm and 

32 



498 SERIOUS BATTLE WITH THE FILIPINOS. 



opalescent Haze of indescribable grandeur. This peaceful scene was very 
soon interrupted by a boom on the right, which was taken as a signal for 
the battle that had been prepared for. As was afterwards ascertained, 
Aguinaldo had foreseen the result of MacArthur's attack, and, with the main 
body of his broken army, made his escape from the capital on Wednesday 
the 29, leaving two thousand of his soldiers to hold the city and cover his 
retreat. This remnant, small and poorly armed as it was, exhibited great 
courage during the first onset, but were awed by the extraordinary heroism 
of our soldiers, whose charges were in such striking contrast with those to 
which the Filipinos had been accustomed in fighting the Spaniards. 

The campaign was conducted on the most humane principles by our 
troops, but this did not prevent the commission of many deeds which ruth- 
less war made unavoidable, that caused the eye of pity to 
moisten and the heart of sympathy to beat with awe, for A1 Sad ^? e "f, s 

J r J ' Along the Way. 

sorrow everywhere abounded between Caloocan and Malolos. 

One would be very inhuman indeed who could visit these scenes of 
desolation without a deep sense of sympathy for the houseless and homeless. 
The country is naturally a perfect paradise. From the city of Malolos the 
land rises in gently undulating ridges to the hills in the rear. Fertile plains 
are broken by hedgerows of bamboo, banana and acacia trees, and the eye 
rests with grateful repose on the soft yellow flower of the amargosa, or 
welcomes the effective red blaze of the bougainvilla. In places the waving 
grass was ripe for the sickle that could never garner it ; the fruit was ready 
to be plucked. Yet this paradise was devastated and made to show the 
blighting trail of the serpent. Crops were trampled under foot, the husband- 
men who should have been reaping the fruits of their labor, or preparing 
the soil were summoned by the fiery cross of Aguinaldo, and soon thereafter 
were watching the smoking ruins of their homes from the adjacent hillsides, 
unable in the majority of cases to understand why this evil thing had come 
upon them. But it was war, grim, gaunt, inexorable, that spares nothing, 
and destroys without limit with the blood-cravings instruments of hate. 
These were now employed to drive the Filipinos from their capital, whose 
resistance, inspired by Aguinaldo's bootless ambition, had brought this grief 
upon their land. 

The engagement was begun by the Third Artillery, which poured a 
terrific stream of shells into the trenches where the enemy was in force, and 
from which a hot fire was returned. The Utah battery 
quickly joined in the action, followed in half an hour by ^^'attie* **** 
a charge of the South Dakota, Nebraska and Kansas regi- 
ments that swept along both sides of the railroad over open fields, through 



SERIOUS BATTLE WITH THE FILIPINOS. 499 



thickets and across streams to the main trenches south of the city. The 
insurgents' earthworks were well constructed, and had they been held by a 
thousand such fighting soldiers as our own might have repulsed a force ten 
times as great. But the Filipinos, while brave, lack the genius and the 
indomitable, irresistible dash of trained veterans, and also lacking modern 
firearms they could not long withstand the charges of our troops and the 
hail of bursting shells that broke so fiercely over them. The conflict was 
so impetuous that the enemy became demoralized after an hour's fighting, 
abandoned their trenches and took to the cover of adjacent thickets, from 
which they harassed Hale's brigade. 

Seeing that our troops would soon pour into the city, the insurgents 
decided to destroy what they could no longer defend. The torch was accord- 
ingly applied to the palace, where for several months the Filipino congress 
had held its sessions, and from which Aguinaldo had fulminated so many 
boastful pronunciamentos. When our battalions poured through the streets 
they found it more necessary to combat flames than to do battle with the 
insurgents, who were now fugitives. The fiery scene was an appalling one. 
Hundreds of terrified, panic-stricken Chinamen were shrieking for mercy 
and striving to save their effects, while women and children were crying and 
piercing the air with appeals for help. Down the main streets our victorious 
troops charged, near the end of which they encountered a barricade, behind 
which a few insurgents lay concealed, to become sacrifices in covering ,he 
retreat of the main body. These delivered three volleys into the Kan ^ans' 
ranks, and then broke into retreat, followed by their assailants, at the head 
of which was Colonel Funston, who, swinging his hat, leaped over the bar- 
ricade and cheered his men to pursue. Having routed the enemy from this 
point, the Kansans advanced to another part of the town, where they rescued 
several Chinamen who had been driven to the woods and whose lives were in 
the greatest peril from threatening Filipinos. 

When the enemy had abandoned their capital a scene of desolation 
marked the place which two hours before had been a city of some preten- 
sion to elegance. The Presidencia was a building of 
The Last Sight considerable architectural beauty, and its decorations and 

FiUpinos furnishings were finer than one might expect to see among 
a semi-civilized people, especially among such as they are 
mistakenly represented to be. The Filipinos had a profound admiration 
for this stately building, which was to them the very enshrinement of 
their hopes of independence. It must, therefore, have been with deepest 
sorrow that they applied the torch, to preserve it from profanation by their 
enemies, and we may imagine their grief when fleeing for their lives they 



5oo 



SERIOUS BATTLE WITH THE FILIPINOS. 



looked back to see boiling clouds of smoke, riven by flashes of flames, 
that marked the now desolated spot where their once proud capitol " 
had stood. 

After occupying Malolos our troops addressed themselves to the work of 
subduing the fire that was destroying the main part of the city. So ener- 
getic were the measures taken, and plenty of water being providentially at 
hand, that most of the town was saved, and few of the large, important 
buildings were seriously damaged. But the capitol having been reduced 
to ruins, our flag was raised in the public square, where it now floats tri- 
umphantly. 

Our losses were strangely few, due to the poor marksmanship of the 
insurgents, who are unfamiliar with firearms, and who, while not wanting in 
courage, are very excitable, which causes them to fire at random and without 
discipline. As they retreated from the. city they took the precaution to 
destroy several miles of railroad track so as to prevent pursuit. The rails 
were not only removed from the roadbed, but were taken into thickets, or 
thrown into streams, where they cannot be recovered, so that several months 
must elapse before they can be renewed, as it will be necessary to import new 
rails from England or America. The whole route of retreat was also devastated, 
and for some miles out of the city the line was distinctly marked by camp 
equipage left behind by the fugitives. But though defeated at every point 
the Filipinos never lost their determination to continue their resistance. 
When it became evident that it was impossible to hold the city against the 
Americans, several of the prominent natives pleaded with the authorities to 
surrender the place and thus save many lives and avoid destruction of 
property, but so far from granting their prayers the Filipino officers ordered 
the immediate execution of the petitioners, by which act they demonstrated 
their determination to contest to the last extremity, thus plainly indicating 
their purpose to resort to guerrilla warfare when no other means of resistance 
shall be left to them. 

After the occupation of Malolos by our troops the insurgents moved 
north and west, and the general belief was for a while that they had scat- 
tered among the hills of North L,uzon. The rainy season, 

T Caknt| t ptt 0f was now near a ^ nan( ^ an( ^ a suspension of hostilities 

was for a while contemplated ; but the war department at 
Washington, acting upon the advice of General Otis, decided to continue the 
campaign despite the probable season difficulties, so as to afford no time for 
recuperation or reorganization to the demoralized Filipinos. Accordingly, 
before the expiration of the service of the volunteers, General MacArthur 
moved rapidly northward with the design of attacking some 4,000 insurgents 



SERIOUS BATTLE WITH THE FILIPINOS. 



that v;ete Known to be strongly intrenched at Calunipit. The march was 
swift from April 20, and on the 25th Wheaton's brigade reached the city, 
upon which they made a direct attack, supported by General Hale on the 
flank. A stream of some size lay between the troops and the city, spanned 
by a bridge that had been partially destroyed. The first to cross was Colonel 
Fred Funston, who, calling for volunteers, accepted five out of the hundreds 
that promptly offered. These crawled along the spans of the bridge as far 
as possible, exposed to the fire of the enemy, until they reached the broken 
part, when they dropped into the water and swam the remaining distance 
Gaining the bank they rushed upon the startled Filipinos, and with no other 
weapons than revolvers drove a squad of insurgents out of their trenches 
and occupied them themselves. The army crossed soon after and a hot fight 
followed, in which the Filipinos contested stubbornly, but were . finally 
routed and driven out of the city, but not until they had destroyed much of 
it by fire. Qur loss in the engagement was six killed and twelve w r ounded. 

Two days before the fight at Calumpit a sharp fight took place near 
Quingua, six miles northeast of Malolos, that proved to be one of the most 
fatal actions of the war, though the battle lasted only an hour. The 
Filipinos were beaten back, but not until our forces sustained a loss of nine 
killed and forty-four wounded, among the former being Colonel John M. 
Stotzenburg, of the First Nebraska, and Lieutenant August C. Nisson. 
Almost at the same time a party of sixteen sailors from the " Yorktown " 
that had been sent ashore at Baler, island of Mindanao, in command of Lieu- 
tenant J. C. Gilmore, to relieve a Spanish garrison, were surprised and made 
captive by a large body of insurgents. They were treated well, however, 
but held for ransom or exchange upon terms that might promise to be of 
distinct advantage to the insurgent cause. 

On April 28 Aguinaldo sent two of his confidential emissaries, Colonel 

Aro-uelles and Lieutenant Jose Bermal, to treat w 7 ith General Otis for terms 

of peace. Their proposals were limited to request for a 

1 , 1 • 1 -1 • 1 r Overtures for Peace. 

truce of three months, evidently wuth the purpose 01 

securing time in which to reorganize the insurgent army, though their 
pretence was that this time was required in which to assemble the Filipinos 
congress, which alone had authority to confirm peace terms. General Otis 
denied the commissioner's request, which was. repeated on May 2 and again 
on May 4, but with no better success. The army w 7 as in fit condition, not- 
withstanding the excessive heat, and a resolute movement was made to 
drive the insurgents from all their strongholds in North Luzon, back upon 
the hill tribes that w r ere known to be implacable enemies of the Filipinos. 
In pursuance of this purpose General Mac Arthur's forces on May 4 advanced 



5 02 SERIOUS BATTLE WITH THE FILIPINOS. 

against St. Thomas, which was captured after a hard fight, in which Colonel 
Funston again distinguished himself by intrepid daring and sagacious 
generalship, such as has won the admiration of the world. In this engage- 
ment the enemy was routed with considerable loss, and left behind 50,000 
bushels of rice which Colonel Funston secured in good condition. 

Colonel Fred Funston, of the Twentieth Kansas Volunteers, has been 
brought into prominence by such exhibitions of heroism as make him 

probably the most picturesque character developed by the 
Sketch of Funston. r t . J ' , r . , . " , ' 

war, his career being such as might give him rank with 

the dashing musketeers of Dumas' heroic romance. He is son of ex- 
Congressman Funston, of Kansas, born in 1863, an ^ reared to deeds of 
daring and adventure. He received an excellent education and after gradu- 
ating took a position in the agricultural department at Washington, and 
because of his superior knowledge of botany and forestry was twice sent to ' 
Alaska to collect botanical specimens. On his last trip he lost his two 
companions and made a perilous journey down the Yukon, a distance of 
1,500 miles, reappearing after he was long supposed to have perished. 
During the Cuban rebellion he served under Generals Gomez and Garcia as 
captain of artillery. He was once captured by the Spaniards but secured 
his release by a strategy and* later was shot through both lungs while leading 
a charge. His horse was killed at the same time and, falling on him, broke 
his right leg. He w T as rescued by his Cuban companions and taken to a 
hospital, and later brought to the United States. After several months he 
recovered, and on the breaking out of the war between the United States 
and Spain he offered his services to his country and was commissioned 
colonel of volunteers. He was sent to San Francisco with the troops 
detailed for Manila, and during his short stay there married an excellent 
lady who, joining her fortunes with those of her adventurous husband, 
sailed with him for the Philippines. He has on so many occasions exhibited 
bravery and sagacity of such high order that, en May 2, the President pro- 
moted him to be brigadier-general of volunteers and the people of his native 
state (Kansas) sent him a magnificent sword as a testimonial of their admira- 
tion. General Funston, though one of the greatest of fighters, is the smallest 
man of his regiment, weighing less than one hundred pounds. 

The capitulation of St. Thomas was followed on May 5 by an advance 
against San Fernando, but finding this place evacuated General Lawton's 
command engaged 800 insurgents under General Rio del 
Capture of San pilar and Colonel Gregario, near San Rafael, whom he 
Rafael and Balinag. £ J 1 

defeated after a hard fight. On the next day, May 6, 
General Lawton attacked Balinag where he found 2,000 Filipinos strongly 



SERIOUS BATTLE WITH THE FILIPINOS. 



intrenched and well armed. After an hour of desultory firing Brigadier- 
General Funston led a charge against^ the enemy across open ground and 
through a hail of bullets, which is said to have been one of the most dashing 
and daring assaults of the war. Several of his men were struck, but the 
thinning of ranks did not halt his impetuosity and his brave men swept 
down upon the amazed Filipinos like an avalanche that carries every mov- 
able object before it. The enemy made a stubborn resistance for a little 
while but their courage failed them when the American Volunteers poured 
over the intrenchments, retreated with a precipitancy that quickly became a 
route of wildest disorder, leaving arms and provisions behind, and scattering 
in the jungle, where they could not be successfully pursued. In this engage- 
ment our loss was ten killed and thirty-three wounded, while that of the 
enemy is supposed to have been many times as great. 

• It is useless to wonder now what would have been the situation in tht 
Philippines had a large force been despatched there directly after Dewey's 
admirable. victory. Our main concern is with the present situation, and, 
measuring it fairly, it appears that the present condition of affairs is most 
favorable, and that if Aguinaldo had staked his fortunes upon a final battle our 
success would have been complete. This, of course, does not mean that the 
insurrection would be immediately stamped out. With such a people 
spasmodic and more or less intermittent outbreaks must be expected, but it 
is probable these would have been in character of no more importance than 
the uprisings of our Indians ten years ago. 

While the wisdom of Philippine annexation is a disputed question, there 
can be no difference of opinion regarding the courage, discipline and efficiency 
of the American troops. 

Fighting ambuscaded and intrenched foes in a strange country, under 
a tropical sun, our men displayed a steadiness under fire and a headlong 
bravery when the charge was sounded which have evoked the highest praise 
from European experts and of which all American citizens have the right to 
be proud. That the operations in which they are engaged are no holiday 
warfare is proved by the figures of the casualties since February 4. In this 
time, to the capture of Malolos, the number of killed had reached 167, while 
900 had been wounded. This is a showing which cannot be contemplated 
without keen regret. But it bears unmistakable evidence to the fighting 
qualities of the troops, when it is taken in conjunction with the fact that not 
a single American soldier, gun or flag was captured in battle, and that 
the enemy had been driven from their position in every conflict. 



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